A suspended Toronto police officer who was arrested at a Montreal airport last weekend for allegedly trying to flee the country just weeks before his sentencing on charges of fraud, theft and breach of trust has been ordered to remain in custody after he was denied bail Wednesday. Const. Boris Borissov, 50, was last Saturday and charged with breaching his bail condition that he not leave Ontario.
After his trial in May, Justice Mary Misener convicted Borissov of offences relating to the theft of a luxury watch and credit cards, and unauthorized use of police computers. Borissov’s testimony that he did not commit the crimes didn’t sway the judge, who called him “ .” She agreed to his release pending sentencing after he surrendered his passports and any other travel documents, and agreed to remain in Ontario.
On Wednesday, defence lawyer, Joanne Mulcahy asked a Toronto court to release Borissov on bail — again. Crown attorney Jason Nicol was opposed. Following the review of evidence, which is subject to a publication ban, Justice of the Peace Patrick Moeller denied the request for Borissov’s release.
His reasons fall under the scope of the ban, which is routine at bail hearings. During a break in Wednesday’s proceedings, Borissov, wearing an orange jumpsuit, paced the small video room at a Toronto-area jail where he is being held in solitary confinement, due to his status as a police officer. How long he retains his police badge — which he’s had since 2005 — will depend on the outcome of a future police disciplinary tribunal hearing.
His wife, observing the bail proceedings via Zoom, exchanged a few words with him in Bulgarian before being requested to mute her microphone. Borissov has been suspended with pay since his arrest in the spring of 2022. Under the new , chiefs of police are allowed to suspend an officer without pay if a number of criteria are met.
Written notice must be provided to the officer, who then has 60 days to apply for a heading; that process could take several months. Asked if Borissov meets the criteria for unpaid suspension, a Toronto police official said the matter is currently under review. She noted that under the legislation, a police chief can suspend an officer without pay once he or she is convicted of an offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, even if the conviction or sentence is under appeal.
Borissov is facing a potential penitentiary term. He was convicted of stealing credit cards from two dead people whose disappearances he was assigned to investigate and giving them to a friend to use, , falsifying a police report to cover up his crime, possessing a stolen car for three months and misusing police databases to check up on this vehicle and others owned by a friend. While out on bail on those charges, he was rearrested by Canada Border Services Agency agents in Toronto following a return flight from Cuba in June 2023.
Despite saying he had nothing to declare, border agents allegedly found 253 Cuban cigars worth $10,000 in his luggage. (He was permitted to travel at the time.) He returns to Newmarket court for a sentencing hearing on the theft and fraud charges on Sept.
10. The judge has indicated she will have her decision ready in early October..
