BANGOR, Maine — A Corinna man convicted earlier this month in connection with the near-fatal overdose of his infant daughter was sentenced Monday to two years in prison and four years of probation.
Zachary Borg, 28, was found guilty on Nov. 10 of one count of aggravated assault based on bodily injury and misdemeanor domestic violence assault, reckless conduct, and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the June 2021 incident.
Borg has already served about 17 months in jail, which will be credited toward his sentence.
The child's mother, Taezja DiPietro, 22, was charged with aggravated furnishing drugs to a minor, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, endangering the welfare of a child, and possession of Class W drugs. DiPietro is out on bail and may be tried later.
Police said when first responders arrived at Borg's home in June 2021 his 11-month-old daughter was in cardiac arrest. The child was brought to a nearby hospital, and she was successfully resuscitated and stabilized.
The defense stated during the trial that the child was laying on DiPietro's chest when she began seizing and going into cardiac arrest, possibly from ingesting fentanyl residue on DiPietro's shirt.
Fentanyl is a persistent problem across the state, Assistant District Attorney Chelsea Lynds told NEWS CENTER Maine on Monday after the sentencing.
"Fentanyl is just decimating our community. We see it in court every single day," Lynds said. "People are just being totally ravaged by fentanyl addiction."
Lynds said it is critical to have more resources to help communities deal with fentanyl use and addiction.
"We are in an absolute fentanyl crisis. It is killing adults. It's killing babies. And the people that are surviving their overdoses are having their life totally torn apart, and we don't have the tools," Lynds said.
“He’s a kid who ended up with a bad addiction, and the only thing we can do now is fix it,” Borg's mother, Raylynn Hartford, said.
“I think this is going to change him, and he’s going to be so much better than he was when he went in there,” Hartford added.
Borg's daughter is in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
“The closure was very important to him," Harris Mattson, who represented Borg, said after the sentencing on Monday. "He did express genuine remorse as [Superior Court] Justice [William] Anderson noted. He feels horrible about what happened."
Since Borg's sentencing, Mattson has filed for an appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The sentencing is not cause for concern, but the "conviction for assault is not legally sound," according to Mattson.
"Maine's assault law necessarily involves the use of force against another person," and it is unclear how Borg used force against his daughter, Mattson said.