Man found guilty of serial HIV assaults: maybe a case of the Down-low
By Noble Johns
Atlanta (BNW) –Many homosexual and bisexual Black men are causing a devastating toll on the Black community by bring AIDS home to their women. A disease that was once confined to a few homosexual white men has now become the number one killer of Black women between the ages of 17 to 35.
How can this be?
What is happening is that Black men who are undercover homosexuals are spreading AIDS to their wives and girlfriends at an alarming rate. Keeping their sexual lives a secret, these Black undercover homosexual are on the so-called Down-low! And as a result, AIDS is spreading like wildfire in the Black community.
It is estimated that 75% of all the new cases of AIDS are Black women between the ages of 17 to 35.
For example, a Black man was convicted by a judge Monday on charges he deliberately exposed 17 women to HIV by having unprotected sex with them. Five of the women have tested positive for the virus, which causes AIDS.
Anthony E. Whitfield, 32, faces a minimum sentence of 137 years in prison on the 17 counts of first-degree assault with sexual motivation and other charges.
Health officials said as many as 170 people may have been exposed to the virus because of Whitfield's actions, counting subsequent partners of women he slept with. No additional people have tested positive for HIV, but 45 refused to be tested or couldn't be found.
During the trial in Thurston County court, an Oklahoma prison official testified that Whitfield was diagnosed with HIV while incarcerated in 1992.
Two women testified that Whitfield once said, seemingly in jest, that if he had HIV, he would give it to as many people as he could.
Defense lawyer Charles Lane said Whitfield was addicted to methamphetamine and used women for shelter, money and sex but never meant to inflict "great bodily harm" as required for him to be convicted of first-degree assault.