Sports writer suspended for plagiarism

BOSTON, March 6 (UPI) -- A Boston Globe sports writer was suspended for two months and barred from TV appearances for allegedly plagiarizing a Tacoma, Wash., reporter's work.

"Ron Borges has been suspended for two months without pay because he plagiarized from a reporter at another news organization in a notes column published in Sunday's Sports section," said Globe Editor Martin Baron in a statement.

Borges, who has worked at the Globe for 24 years, declined to comment in the paper's article about the suspension.

Borges allegedly lifted material from reporter Mike Sando's Feb. 25 story in the (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune about a potential trade of Seattle Seahawks football player Darrell Jackson, the Boston Herald said Tuesday.

News Tribune Deputy Managing Editor Dale Phelps confirmed that information in Borges column "appears to be more or less verbatim" of what appeared in the News Tribune previously.

Phelps said he spoke with Sando, who told him that he submitted his article on Jackson to an online repository where sports reporters nationwide share information.

Borges used Sando's material in the notes depository extensively and verbatim, which is prohibited, Baron said in his statement.

The action, effective immediately, took into account the "severity of the offense and the circumstances surrounding it," Baron said.