BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GEORGETOWN -- A man indicted in the rape of an 8-year-old boy in April was also indicted for attempted murder after the man tested positive for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), Brown County Prosecutor Thomas F. Grennan said Wednesday.
Ronald B. Hutchinson, 33, was being held in the Brown County Jail on a $100,000 cash bond following the indictments by the Brown County grand jury.
"Pursuant to (state) statute, we have the right to request testing for AIDS. He has been tested. He tested positive for AIDS and HIV (the virus that causes AIDS). That's why we have the attempted-murder charge," Mr. Grennan said.
The prosecutor and sheriff's officials said Mr. Hutchinson, originally from Mount Orab, recently returned to his native county from Houston. Law enforcement officials had no knowledge of Mr. Hutchinson's being involved any previous sex crimes.
"It is my understanding he came back because he has the AIDS virus and, potentially, is not going to live much longer," Mr. Grennan said.
Col. Kelly Jones, Brown County deputy sheriff, said Mr. Hutchinson, whom he described as homeless, was arrested at his job at the Stanley Tool Co. plant in Georgetown on May 7. He was charged with rape after the mother of the boy told an investigator from the Brown County Human Services Department that her son said Mr. Hutchinson sexually assaulted him.
Mr. Hutchinson has denied the charge, the prosecutor said. The boy has been undergoing periodic tests at Children's Hospital Medical Center, and to date has not tested positive for HIV.
"While he has not shown any signs of the AIDS virus, they will not know for certain for six months to a year," Mr. Grennan said. He said the assault occurred April 25 at the home of the boy's grandmother and uncle.
The prosecutor said Mr. Hutchinson, a friend of the boy's uncle, was visiting when the boy's parents dropped him off for an overnight stay.
"The parents were not aware he (Mr. Hutchinson) was intending to stay overnight," Mr. Grennan said. The sexual assault allegedly occurred overnight, and the boy told his parents the next day.
