Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - July 10, 2003
Hannah Sampson, hsampson@herald.com
Wednesday, the 31-year-old woman was in jail on charges that her silence led to the infection of her boyfriend of two years.
Her former boyfriend, 44, filed a police report in May after he found out he had HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. He told police he was infected by the woman, who he had been dating for two years and who, he said, never told him she had the disease.
According to a police report, the woman was infected in 1994 and married a man who later died of the disease.
The victim, who is from Fort Lauderdale, told investigators that in the two years that he was with Harris, he never had sexual relations with anyone else and could only have gotten HIV from her.
Harris was booked under a Florida law that says it is a third-degree felony for anyone who knows that he or she has HIV and knows that it can be spread through sexual intercourse to have sex with another person, unless the partner knows about the disease and consents.
Someone who violates that law multiple times has committed a first-degree felony.
The victim said in a telephone interview Wednesday night that if Harris had told him from the beginning that she was infected, he would have respected her for her honesty.
Instead, he said he is glad to see her in jail.
"I feel like she should be punished," he said.
He said he is a changed man, that he kicked a crack habit 13 years ago and would have never exposed himself to HIV.
He recalled how Harris would take pill after pill and how he would joke that she was like a pharmacy. She told him she had cancer, he said.
Now, he is on a demanding regimen of medication as well.
"The meds don't make me feel too good," he said.
On Wednesday, the man said he just wants to put the situation behind him and get on with his life.
"I'm trying to keep myself up, man," he said.
It could not be determined Wednesday how often people are arrested under the statute.
In January, a 32-year-old man was jailed without bail in Polk County for not telling partners he had HIV, The Associated Press reported.
A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty in South Dakota a year ago to having sex with a woman who did not know he was infected; the victim tested negative and MTV made a documentary about the case, according to Associated Press reports. The 19-year-old received a suspended sentence, but violated the terms and is now serving four years.
Harris remained in the Broward County Jail Wednesday night on $7,500 bail.
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