Boris Borissov, a Toronto police officer currently serving seven years in prison for falsifying documents, misusing police resources and stealing from dead people while on duty, has been sentenced to 11 more months in custody after pleading guilty Friday to violating his bail conditions in August.
In May, an Ontario court found Borissov guilty of all 15 charges against him for crimes he committed during separate police investigations in 2020 and 2022. Among those crimes, Borissov stole a luxury watch, credit cards and other items from dead people while on duty.
On Aug. 24, before his sentencing hearing, Borissov attempted to flee the country with a one-way ticket to Rome and a fake Bulgarian passport, but was arrested at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport, according to the agreed statement of facts read in court.
Borissov, 50, pleaded guilty to violating the conditions of his parole Friday and Justice Cathy Mocka sentenced him to an additional 11 months in prison. That’s on top of the seven he’s already serving. Mocka also subtracted 85 days from the 11-month sentence for time served in pre-trial custody.
“This is a very grave offence,” Mocka told the court. “And certainly it has to be made clear that offences such as this, where people are on court orders and make planned attempts to thwart that, will be dealt with seriously.”
‘Not a crime of negligence,’ Crown argues
The decision aligned with the Crown’s argument that, as a police officer, Borissov was expected to abide and uphold the law, and should be harshly sentenced as a result. The Crown was seeking a 12-month sentence.
“Although he did not exploit his position as a police officer… the fact remains he is always a police officer, even off duty,” Crown attorney Jason Nicol told the court.
“This was not a crime of negligence,” he said.
Borissov’s defence attorney, Joanne Mulcahy, told the court that his attempt to flee was a “stupid scheme” that was “destined to fail,” but that Borrisov had relapsed after being treated for alcohol addiction and wanted to go to Bulgaria to see his sick mother in hospital.
Justice Mocka said she took this into account in her decision, along with his guilty plea, but she also considered the time and effort Borissov had put into his plan, as well as his persistence in lying to Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers after they questioned him about his fake passport and found different identification in his bags.
“This was a planned attempt to escape and to leave the country,” Mocka said, adding that the health of Borissov’s mother was only an “additional motivating factor” for his attempted escape.