Judge nearly doubles sentence prosecutors asked for in staged death

The man who faked his death by staging a drowning in Green Lake and then fleeing to eastern Europe, leaving his family to grieve, has been sentenced in Green Lake County Court Tuesday, August 26, 2025.

40-year-old Ryan Borgwardt was facing a charge of obstruction in the matter and prosecutors were looking for a 45 day sentence, but the judge overseeing the case had other plans for Borgwardt. He made the sentence 89 days. The amount of time law enforcement spent either searching for Borgwardt’s body on Green Lake or tracking him down once they found evidence he was still alive and left the country.

The judge said the longer sentence can serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be considering faking their death and misleading law enforcement.

Borgwardt also has to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement to cover what was spent trying to locate him.