A Wisconsin man accused of plotting an elaborate scheme to fake his death in a kayaking accident and flee the country pleaded no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction.
Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was sentenced to 89 days in jail — the amount of time that he spent misleading authorities, Green Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate said before he announced the jail term.
Borgwardt, who appeared in a white checkered button-up shirt and gray pants, was also ordered to pay $30,000 in costs associated with a search effort that lasted nearly two months.
In a brief statement to the court that Borgwardt, a father of three, said he deeply regretted his actions and the pain he caused his family and friends.
Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa told the court that Borgwardt spent months researching the scheme in an effort to disappear from his life in Wisconsin and create a new one in the country of Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union.
He reversed a vasectomy, took out a large life insurance policy, obtained a new passport and transferred money overseas, LaSpisa said. He researched how to fake a drowning and chose Green Lake, with its average depth of 100 feet, because he believed "a body would not surface," she said.
Borgwardt then traveled to Georgia to be with a woman whom he'd met online, LaSpisa said.
"His entire plan to fake his death, to devastate his family in order to serve his own selfish desires, hinged on him dying in the lake and selling his death to the world," LaSpisa said.
Borgwardt was reported missing Aug. 12, after his capsized kayak and fishing gear were discovered in the lake. The report prompted a lengthy search of its more than 7,000 acres, which included divers, underwater drones and sonar.
According to a criminal complaint, LaSpisa said Borgwardt had actually used a small inflatable boat to return to shore and an electric bike to ride to Madison. He then fled the country, heading first to Canada and later to Georgia, LaSpisa said.
Authorities were able to track his overseas travels in part because he used the new passport he'd obtained in Canada.
Borgwardt’s plan unraveled when a Russian-speaking woman contacted deputies in Green Lake County and connected them with Borgwardt, according to the complaint. The sheriff’s office later released a clip of a video call authorities had with him.
“Good evening, it’s Ryan Borgwardt,” he told the camera. “Today is Nov. 11. It’s approximately 10 a.m. by you guys. I’m in my apartment. I am safe, secure, no problem.”
By December, he had returned to Wisconsin.
His attorney said Tuesday that the misdemeanor crime he was charged with was a non-extraditable offense.
"If he didn't want to come back; he didn't need to come back," said the attorney, Erik Johnson, adding: "He came back from Europe to take responsibility for his actions."
