A 34-year-old man who published graphic sexual images of his ex-wife after an organized crime investigation ended their relationship has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.
Matthew Thomas Borden was in Vancouver provincial court last Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a loaded restricted firearm, publishing an intimate image of his ex-wife without her consent and breaching his bail conditions.
Organized crime investigation
The drug and weapon charges stem from an investigation by the province's anti-gang agency into a drug operation allegedly being run by Borden and a co-accused, according to information presented in court.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit raided Borden's Burnaby condo, storage area and Jaguar on Feb. 29, 2019 and found a brick of cocaine, a brick of heroin, a restricted handgun with ammunition and no serial number in a nightstand, an automatic AR 15 rifle with ammunition and no serial number and more than $26,000 in cash.
Borden lived at the apartment with his wife and the couple's two young children, and police contacted the Ministry of Children and Family Development after the search warrant to report "potential child safety concerns."
"The police investigation precipitated the end of the couple's relationship," B.C. provincial court Judge Donna Senniw said in her sentencing ruling Thursday.
Senniw said the couple separated in September 2019, but Borden wanted to reconcile and began coercing his wife into continuing the relationship, threatening to post intimate videos and pornography of her online or send them to other men.
The videos had been created before their separation with her consent, according to Senniw.
"She did not consent to their distribution," Senniw said.
Intimate sexual images
But distribute them Borden did.
He was finally arrested on Nov. 1, 2020 and charged with criminal harassment.
Starting in December 2020, he was then charged with a series of breaches of his bail conditions, including an order not to contact his ex.
Borden contacted her using fake email accounts, various social media platforms and different phone numbers.
He also created fake Instagram and other profiles and posted intimate images of her on those sites "without her knowledge or consent."
One video Borden posted was nearly 15 minutes long and featured graphic close-ups.
His ex-wife's face was clearly visible throughout.
"The video is deeply intimate, highly sexualized and very graphic," Senniw said.
Despite efforts by his ex-wife to have it removed, the video still appears on the internet.
As of early June 2023, Senniw said it had been viewed 28,000 times.
Intimate photos of Borden's ex-wife also remain on the internet.
As of early June 2023, they had been viewed more than 1.1 million times.
"She still fears for herself and her children's safety as people still contact her through social media, claiming they've been talking to her and receiving intimate sexual contact," Senniw said.
Prison sentence
At one point, while Borden was under house arrest with electronic monitoring, he also violated his conditions by visiting his new girlfriend on days when he only had permission to be out of his home to visit with his kids.
Senniw called it a "flagrant" violation of his release conditions.
With enhanced credit for jail time already served, Senniw sentenced Borden to another three years and four months in prison.
She also ordered him to pay $10,305.68 in restitution for money his ex-wife has paid to try to have the videos and photos removed from the internet.
Borden's lawyer had called for his client to be allowed to serve his sentence in the community, but Senniw said that wouldn’t be appropriate given the seriousness of the case.
She noted the "significant" breach of trust involved, the breadth of distribution of the sexual images across multiple accounts, platforms and jurisdictions, the "extremely private" nature of the images, the repeated distribution of the images over his ex-wife's objections and while Borden was bound by court conditions, and the impact the publication has had on his ex-wife.
Senniw also highlighted the "significant" possibility of the couple's children or their friends seeing the images some day.
"I cannot imagine how he might explain his actions to his children," Senniw said.
Borden has been in jail since June 2023 on new charges of criminally harassing his ex-wife between May 2021 and December 2022.
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