Metro

LI ‘bogus drown’ dad puts self in psych hospital

Evana Roth

Evana Roth

THEY SAID, SHE SAID:
Evana Roth (top left) says husband Raymond and stepson Jonathan (bottom left) were up to no good. (
)

The Long Island man suspected of faking his death in a botched drowning hoax is being held in a private Suffolk County mental hospital suffering from severe depression, his lawyer said yesterday.

Raymond Roth is heavily medicated following his bizarre disappearance last month and sudden reappearance in South Carolina last Thursday, attorney Brian Davis told The Post.

“He is in a psychiatric hospital because he has psychiatric problems. He is depressed and he is not rational,” Davis said.

“He checked in voluntarily but he is now being held involuntary because the doctors determined he is a danger to himself.”

The lawyer said the 47-year-old married father’s mental state deteriorated after he lost his job at Level 3, a computer company in Manhattan.

Roth was demoted — and then fired after threatening to kill the two bosses who demoted him, the lawyer said.

The bosses told the NYPD, and Nassau cops confiscated Roth’s .357 Magnum revolver and gun permit, Davis said.

And the lawyer pointed to Roth’s bungled attempt to fake his own death as proof positive of his instability.

“I think obviously, it wasn’t well thought through. It was just to get away from everything pressing on him, all of the stresses he was feeling. He was escaping. It was a stupid thing,” he said.

“Anybody could have done this better.”

Davis pointed out that Roth faked his death yet drove in his own car with his own driver’s license and hid out in Florida at a resort under his own name.

“It was just impulsive, someone who was in a manic state,” said Davis, adding that Roth checked himself into the unidentified hospital on Friday.

Authorities had told The Post they expected an arrest this week, but Davis said it could take longer because of his client’s mental condition.

Revelations of Roth’s instability came after his 22-year-old son, Jonathan, was arraigned Tuesday on conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and other charges.

Jonathan pleaded not guilty and his bond was set at $10,000. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted

He had called police on July 28 to report that his father went swimming at Jones Beach and disappeared.

But investigators said that he was in on the scheme from the start.

The criminal complaint alleges that Jonathan and his father conspired to get more than $50,000 in life-insurance money by having Jonathan attempt to file a claim on July 31.With