By LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – Convicted sex offender John Borskey is on the fast track toward an early grave, according to prosecutors who recently entered into a plea agreement with him on a guilty plea to two counts of attempted forcible rape.

Twenty-ninth Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Mark Weinberg, asked if Borskey posed any threat to the community considering his condition, answered, “I don’t think so.”

Borskey, 36, has a fatal lung disease, a crack cocaine addiction and hepatitis C and will most likely be dead in two years, Weinberg said.

In exchange for the plea, Borskey received a 10-year sentence from the Department of Corrections, with all but 18 months suspended. With credit for time served totaling 18 months, Borskey was released on five years’ active probation.

Prosecuting the case were Weinberg and Howat Peters, and the defense attorney was Mark Marino.

Borskey was charged on Feb. 14, 2001 with the aggravated rape of two LaPlace sisters, ages 9 and 11, according to District Attorney office spokeswoman Regina Cyrus.

The mother of the girls agreed to the plea agreement, Peters said, “because she didn’t want them to go through it” on the witness stand, and added, “She just wanted him away from the girls.”

Weinberg said the mother “readily agreed” to the plea agreement, because the victims were having a tough time dealing with trial preparation. However, Weinberg continued, if Borskey had not accepted the agreement, there would have been no choice but to proceed with trial.

Peters acknowledged the case for aggravated rape was not too stable, as one victim “would not say it went all the way” and the story for the other was also shaky. The prosecutor said he did not want to expose the girls to relentless questioning in court by attorneys, seeing that as a further emotional attack on them.

“That’s the last thing you want to do,” he said. “It would bring it all up again.”

The judge, Robert Chaisson, did urge counseling for the girls to deal with the emotional trauma as well as a thorough medical checkout.

Borskey allegedly raped the children some time during spring 2000. Police were called in April 2000, and the St. Charles Parish Grand Jury issued an indictment against him that same month, charging him with two counts of aggravated rape of a juvenile.

He was found in a Metairie crack house by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies during a raid on Feb. 14, 2001 and sent back to St. Charles Parish on a fugitive warrant. Borskey was held on a $750,000 bond and held at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in Killona to await trial.

Borskey’s account all along was to declare his innocence, but he eventually entered a guilty plea as part of the plea agreement.

“He pled guilty because he was guilty,” Peters said.

Borskey originally faced a death sentence if convicted, since he was charged with the rape of a child under the age of 12, according to a 1996 Louisiana law regarding such cases.

Peters said the plea agreement was reached when it was learned on Aug. 7 that Borskey is suffering from a progressive, likely fatal, lung disease which hardens the organs.

He had only learned of his diagnosis the day before, on Aug. 6.

“He lost more than 30 pounds in the last few months, and he wasn’t that big to begin with,” Peters said.

Borskey was sentenced under the sex offender statute, which requires him to register with the sheriff and advertise his address wherever he resides for the rest of his life. Peters said Borskey is currently living in Violet, in St. Bernard Parish, with a sister, and has been ordered not to contact the victims or their family members in any manner, under threat of revocation of probation and immediate imprisonment.