A woman from Minnesota has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for abusing her three children and lying about their health to steal Medicaid money.
On August 7, a judge in Crow Wing County sentenced Jorden Marie Borders, 35, of Crosslake, to nearly four decades behind bars. In June, after a three-week trial, Judge Patricia Aanes found her guilty of all 11 charges, including child torture, stalking, theft, and attempted murder, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Ellison called the crimes “some of the most horrible” he had ever seen and said he was praying for the children’s healing.
Investigators say Borders pretended her children had serious illnesses so she could collect government payments. She even hurt them to make it look like they were sick.
The abuse came to light in May 2022, when the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office began looking into child maltreatment reports. Court documents say in March 2022, one of her children, age 9, was hospitalized for dangerously low hemoglobin. Borders claimed the hospital caused it by taking too much blood.
Later, the children told police their mother had taken their blood herself with a syringe or central line before doctor visits. Borders also told doctors her children had brittle bone disease and forced them to wear medical boots, casts, and neck braces, even though they had no real injuries.
One child said she made him vomit on purpose at the doctor’s office and pretend to have asthma so he could get unnecessary medication.
The children also testified that Borders hit them with cords, belts, and spoons, made them stand outside in the freezing cold without clothes, withheld food, and threatened to kill them with knives and guns.
Social media posts showed she even lied online about one of her children being on a ventilator and discussed “end-of-life” plans for him.
Borders also lied to county services to get paid for caring for one child, collecting over $18,000 in fraudulent payments.
By the time she was arrested in November 2022, Borders had been abusing her three children physically, emotionally, and verbally for more than five years.
