A mother who drained her son’s blood to fake a mystery illness has been jailed for torturing her children and pretending they were sick to fraudulently obtain Medicaid payments.
Jorden Borders, of Minnesota, was sentenced to 39 years in prison for her “horrifying” crimes on Thursday, August 7, following a three-week trial.
District Court Judge Patricia Aanes found Borders, 34, guilty of child torture, stalking, theft by false representation, and attempted murder.
Highlights
- Jorden Borders was sentenced to 39 years for torturing her children and faking illnesses to fraudulently get Medicaid payments.
- She drained her son's blood to fake a mystery illness, causing a drop in hemoglobin levels that alerted hospital staff.
- Borders abused her kids physically, using charging cords, belts, and spoons, and forced them to wear unnecessary medical casts.
- She falsely diagnosed diseases like brittle bone disease, forced her children to fake symptoms, and gained $18,000 through fraud.
Jorden Borders has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for torturing her children
Image credits: Crow Wing County Jail
Her crimes came to light after one of her children was admitted to the hospital in March 2022 amid concerns their hemoglobin numbers were dropping.
Medical staff believed the only explanation was that someone had been deliberately withdrawing the child’s blood, according to Lakeland PBS.
Borders claimed that hospital staff must have withdrawn too much blood from her child.
A child maltreatment investigation was launched by the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office, and Borders’ three children were interviewed.
Image credits: Google Maps
During the interviews, the children told investigators that Borders would withdraw blood from the child before medical appointments using either a syringe or a central line, according to the criminal complaint.
They also said that Borders hit them with charging cords, belts, and spoons, as well as making them stand outside in the cold wearing just their underwear.
Borders, who regularly made the children wear medical casts they did not need, threatened to kill them on numerous occasions.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison described the crimes as “some of the most heinous and agonizing I have seen in my time as Attorney General.”
Image credits: Freedomz/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)
In a statement, he said that Borders committed “medical child abuse by performing specific acts against her children that led to them presenting with false medical conditions to their medical providers.”
“Borders also self-diagnosed her children with other diseases, including osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) and forced her children to wear boots, casts, and neck braces even though they did not have any identified fractures or diagnosed injuries,” Ellison added.
“Another child stated that Borders would instruct the child to vomit at the doctor even though he didn’t need to, and to cough as if he had asthma, at which time asthma medication was prescribed.”
Borders even discussed end-of-life care options for one of her children on social media, claiming they were on a ventilator and only an autopsy would reveal the cause of death.
The children were removed from Borders' care in 2022
In addition to this, Borders obtained personal care assistant (PCA) services for one child by providing false information to Crow Wing County Community Services.
“Borders claimed to provide these PCA services and received over $18,000,” Ellison said.
It is understood that the child who was admitted to the hospital was placed in protective custody in May 2022, and the other children were removed from the home in July of that year.
“I am praying for her children's recovery from the suffering and trauma they endured,” Ellison said.