Jonathan Roth back in custody after he fails to show in court

A Massapequa man was in custody Thursday after failing to show up for court while awaiting sentencing for conspiring to fake his father's disappearance from Jones Beach last year in an insurance scam, Nassau prosecutors said.

Jonathan Roth, 23, will be arraigned Friday, a spokesman for District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. The arrest warrant was issued this week after he was a no-show for a routine court appearance last Friday.

Roth had pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in May and expected to avoid jail because he was cooperating with prosecutors against his father, Raymond Roth, 48, also of Massapequa, according to prosecutors.

Raymond Roth had faced a 90-day jail sentence after admitting he faked his own disappearance, but now faces a state prison term on unrelated charges of attempted kidnapping.

Bail bondsmen tracked Roth using his cellphone GPS and other technology, and found him in a house in Ohio, Michelle Esquenazi, owner of Empire Bail Bonds, said. Empire, based in Hempstead, had put up the $10,000 bail for Roth.

Esquenazi said Roth took a bus to Ohio and did not put up a fight when half a dozen bail bondsmen picked him up and drove him back to New York.

Roth was brought to the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow around 9 p.m. Thursday.

“He just said he was sorry he didn’t go court,” Esquenazi said.