Authorities said Wednesday that the Wisconsin man who was charged with creating a complex scheme to stage his death before he appeared with a woman in western Asia had returned to the United States and been taken into custody.
Ryan Borgwardt was charged with obstruction of an officer when he appeared before a Green Lake County judge on Wednesday afternoon while handcuffed and dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
Borgwardt, 45, responded, “I have $20 in my wallet in the other room, so that’s what I have,” when Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate questioned him about his ability to pay bond.
Having “voluntarily turned himself in” on Tuesday from “halfway around the world,” Borgwardt did not present a significant flight risk, according to Slate. According to sheriff’s authorities, Borgwardt posted bond and was released late Wednesday night after the court set bail at $500.
In connection with the alleged plot, which involved him traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, Borgwardt might be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to nine months.
In a petition for legal separation filed Thursday, Borgwardt’s wife called their 22-year marriage “irretrievably broken,” according to the Associated Press. The AP reports that she is requesting exclusive custody of their kids.
According to authorities, Borgward orchestrated his disappearance on August 12 on Green Lake, which is roughly 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee, to appear as a deadly kayaking accident.
Searchers discovered his car and trailer parked in Dodge Memorial County Park, along with a capsized kayak, after he failed to return home from his day on the lake.
To “make this believable” so that “everyone, including law enforcement, would think he drowned,” Borgwardt left his tackle box, fishing rod, and life jacket in the kayak, according to a criminal complaint filed by District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa.
The complaint claims that Ryan said, “everything hinged on me dying in that lake.” “Ryan also stated, (the) ‘whole idea was to sell the death.'”
No physical evidence or remnants of Borgwardt were found during an air and water search.
According to officials, investigators then discovered that he had hidden an electric bike in a tiny inflatable boat he used to get back to shore. According to the complaint, Borgward rode it to Madison and then got on a bus that brought him to Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Canada before boarding an aircraft.
Because he had left his driver’s license in his wallet in the lake, Canadian border control authorities became suspicious and almost thwarted his plan.
He successfully negotiated his way out of that roadblock and arrived in Toronto, where he purchased a ticket on Air France to Paris and proceeded to another nation in “Eastern Europe/Western Asia,” the complaint claims.
However, Borgwardt, a married father of three, was able to trace his lengthy international travel when he used his own passport in Canada.
Borgwardt emailed “an adult female” to arrange for a pickup after he arrived in the post-Paris location, and “they stayed at the hotel for a couple of days,” according to the prosecution.
Prosecutors strongly implied that Borgwardt was in the former Soviet country of Georgia, even though the court document did not state specifically where he ended up with $5,500 in cash on him.
In order to “make it look like he was in Russia or somewhere else other than Georgia,” he used a virtual private network to check news reports regarding his absence, he informed police.
Borgwardt “stated that he knew that Georgia” could extradite him to the United States “and he wanted to be informed and prepared,” the complaint reads.
According to officials, the investigation also discovered that Borgwardt had spoken with a woman from Uzbekistan and opened a foreign bank account.
According to officials, a Russian-speaking woman contacted Green Lake County sheriff’s officers and assisted them in getting in touch with Borgwardt after worldwide requests for assistance in finding him went out.
Prosecutors stated that on November 8, Borgwardt got an email from Green Lake County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Matthew Vande Kolk, which made him realize that his strategy was failing.
The lawsuit stated that Borgwardt’s “heart hit the floor” upon receiving the email.
“Ryan also stated that he saw the picture of [the woman that he went to meet] and knew that he made a mistake, the one mistake he couldn’t make,” said the lawsuit.
On the laptop he left at home, investigators claimed to have discovered proof.
“Ryan stated that he had to sell the death and that he couldn’t take his laptop with him, it needed to be believable that he died in the lake,” according to the lawsuit.
Part of Sheriff Mark Podoll’s department’s video chat with Borgwardt, who stated on November 11 that he was alive, well, and residing in an apartment, was made public on November 21. His precise location was not made public.
Borgwardt had been urged by Podoll to spend the holidays with his family at home.
He told reporters on Wednesday, “We just spoke to them for a short while, and I can only, only imagine how they feel.”
Whether any members of Borgwardt’s family were present in court on Wednesday was not immediately apparent.
Slate pled Borgwardt not guilty and scheduled his upcoming court appearance for January 13.
Podoll thanked his staff, federal investigators, and local volunteers who worked on the case, saying, “We brought a dad back on his own accord.”
The sheriff continued, his voice breaking with passion, “They’re the ones that kept this going.” For what they done for a family, I am incredibly proud of them. We persisted. And you can feel relieved as you stand here today.
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