Judge gives highest possible sentence to man who gave HIV to Washtenaw County woman
Washtenaw County Judge Darlene O’Brien departed from sentencing guidelines when on Friday she sentenced X to serve at least 32 months in prison for giving a Washtenaw County woman the HIV virus.
“It is nothing short of reckless behavior,” O’Brien said. ” It is a huge betrayal of her trust. You have to be honest with people.”
O’Brien sentenced X to 32 months to four years in prison on one count of AIDS – sexual penetration with an uninformed partner, which is a maximum four-year felony.
A first-time offender’s sentence is generally much lighter.
Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor J. Samuel Holtz requested that the judge depart from the guidelines when X was sentenced Friday. Since X’s attorney, Assistant Washtenaw County Public Defender Stephan Adams, challenged many of the claims made by the prosecution, an evidentiary hearing took place before sentencing.
The 24-year-old Washtenaw County woman, who lived in both Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, and two other women testified that X had sex with them without telling the women he was HIV positive.
Two out of the three women are now HIV positive…. One woman said family and friends have shunned her since the diagnosis.
X told authorities he found out he was infected with HIV when he was 24 years old. He subsequently got married and his wife contracted the virus, according to court proceedings.
But X conducted extramarital affairs through online dating sites over the years, which is how he met the three women who testified Friday.
“My sexual desires just overtake everything,” X said during an interview with a Redford police detective that was played in court Friday.
The 24-year-old Washtenaw County woman was 19 when she first met X through an online site. They eventually met up in person at Good Time Charley’s in Ann Arbor, the women testified.
A sexual relationship began and eventually resulted in two children, she said. X testified he wasn’t sure if the children were his or not.
The women said X never hinted that he was HIV positive.
“I thought was safe, only being with one guy,” the woman said.
X meanwhile met a Redford woman on a different dating website and started having a sexual relationship with her. In January 2015, X was caught having sex in the Redford woman’s car with the 24-year-old Washtenaw County woman, according to testimony.
As his affairs were exposed, so was his HIV status. Both women got tested.
“I literally had a panic attack,” the 24-year-old woman said when she found out she was HIV positive. “I wanted to walk into the middle of the highway and get hit.”
As of now, the two children are HIV negative.
Man accused of having sexual relationships and not disclosing HIV
A man was charged in two counties with engaging in sexual acts with women and not telling them he was HIV positive. X, 39, faces three felony counts in Wayne County of sexual penetration with an uninformed partner while allegedly having AIDS, Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Maria Miller said in an email. He pleaded guilty to another count in Washtenaw County, according to online court records.
Redford Township Detective Daniel Bailey said the charges in Wayne County stem from one victim, who met X in 2014 and lived with him for more than eight months.
Bailey declined to say if the woman contracted HIV from him but said she reported what happened to police in January this year. He said he didn’t have knowledge of other victims and called the charge uncommon.
X is scheduled to be arraigned at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit April 17 at 9 a.m. He is currently in jail in Washtenaw County.
Rita White, X’s court-appointed attorney, did not provide additional details about the allegations in the case.
According to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, a 43-year-old woman told Redford police that X had a sexual relationship with her while he was HIV positive. The charge is punishable by 4 years in prison if convicted.
It’s unclear what stage of the disease X has. According to online court records, he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual penetration with an uniformed partner in Washtenaw County Trial Court in February and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1.
His attorney in that case could not be reached for comment.
