Apollo Beach Man Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in Death

Tampa, Florida - Ludwin Borgen (49, Apollo Beach) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber to 27 years in federal prison for distribution of fentanyl, the use of which resulted in the death of a person. A jury found Borgen guilty on April 1, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

According to evidence presented at trial, Borgen was a drug dealer in the Tampa Bay area who had supplied the victim with fentanyl on multiple instances in the past. In the late evening of March 28, 2022, the victim began reaching out to Borgen to arrange a purchase the next day. On March 29, 2022, the victim met Borgen at a pharmacy, where she purchased fentanyl from him. The victim returned to a residence where she had been staying with a friend. That evening, the victim injected herself with the fentanyl while soaking in the bathtub. Intoxicated by the fentanyl, she slid under the water and drowned. After noticing that the victim had been in the bathroom for an extended period of time, her friend checked on her and found her body in the bathtub with her head submerged under the water and a syringe floating next to her.

Toxicology revealed that the victim had approximately ten times the therapeutic concentration of fentanyl in her system-a concentration consistent with overdose deaths. Detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office who specialize in overdose deaths investigated and identified Borgen as the person who had sold the fentanyl to the victim. A detective used her phone to arrange another meeting with Borgen, who arrived intending to sell more fentanyl to the victim. After the investigation team arrested Borgen, they searched his vehicle and found fentanyl, baggies, syringes, and a scale.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Muriel Moore and Michael Sinacore.