A Wisconsin man who faked his own death while kayaking, then fled for the European country of Georgia, has been sent to jail for 89 days.

Ryan Borgwardt was convicted Tuesday of obstructing an officer, a misdemeanour.

His sentence was the same amount of time that he successfully misled law enforcement about his whereabouts.

It was nearly twice as long as the sentence recommended under a plea deal reached with prosecutors. Green Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Slate said it could serve as a deterrent to anyone else who may be considering faking their death.

Borgwardt, 45, pleaded no contest to the charge and agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to law enforcement.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilty, but is treated as such in sentencing.

“I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family [and] friends,” Borgwardt said in court before being sentenced.

The Wisconsin man was reported missing on August 12, 2024, after telling his wife the night before that he was kayaking on Green Lake, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.

His disappearance was first investigated as a possible drowning. However, after failing to find his body following a 58-day search, the investigation broadened.

Subsequent clues, including that he obtained a new passport three months before he disappeared, led investigators to speculate that Borgwardt had faked his death to meet up with a woman from Uzbekistan who he had been communicating with.

Investigators made contact with Borgwardt in November and convinced him to return to the U.S. in December. He turned himself in and was charged with obstructing the search for his body.

His wife of 22 years divorced him four months later.

According to the criminal complaint, Borgwardt traveled 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his family’s home in Watertown to Green Lake on August 11, 2024.

During the night, he overturned his kayak on the lake, paddled back to shore in an inflatable raft that he brought with him — dumping his identification in the lake along the way — and rode an electric bicycle 70 miles (112) kilometers) to Madison. From there he caught a bus to Toronto, flew to Paris and then to “a country in Asia,” before he landed in the European country of Georgia, according to the criminal complaint.

He told investigators that a woman picked him up and they spent several days in a hotel before he took up residency in Georgia, according to the complaint.

“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,” Green Lake County District Attorney Gerise LaSpisa said ahead of sentencing.

She noted that he took out a life insurance policy, applied for a replacement passport and reversed his vasectomy before faking his death to meet a woman he had met online just months earlier.

“The defendant did not count on the determination and dedication of our law enforcement,” LaSpisa said.

Borgwardt’s attorney, Erik Johnson, said Borgwardt “deeply regrets” his actions, and that he returned to the country “to make amends.” He noted that Borgwardt paid the $30,000 in restitution last week.