Two recent criminal cases reveal a crackdown in Hamilton County on people who endanger their sex partners by exposing them, without their knowledge, to the virus that causes AIDS.

        In one case, a man pleaded guilty to exposing a teen-age girl. In another case, a man was found guilty of infecting a woman.

        Both cases are set for sentencing May 14. A conviction on each carries a minimum of two years in prison, and up to a maximum of eight years.

        How far will our justice system go to take such crimes seriously? Will the men be sentenced as if they wielded a deadly weapon? They should be.

        Ohio's criminal code was amended in 2000 to make potentially deadly sex with the uninformed an easily identifiable and punishable crime.
       

Felony assault

        The law says it is felonious assault to know you are HIV-positive and not tell your sex partner. The law also makes it a felony for HIV-positive people to have sex with anyone (not a spouse) under age 18 or with anyone who doesn't have the mental capacity to comprehend an HIV disclosure.

        At least 31 states have similar assault laws, but prosecutions remain rare.

        The most disturbing of Cincinnati's two cases involves a 14-year-old girl who ran away with a 38-year-old family friend last September. The man, Terry Fellesz, has admitted he never told her he has AIDS, an often fatal illness that prevents the body from combating disease.

        When police arrested Mr. Fellesz some weeks later — for unauthorized use of a credit card to purchase pornography — he informed his jailers of his health status, court documents show. He pleaded guilty to having unauthorized sex with a minor and to felonious assault.

        Judge Dennis Helmick will set punishment and decide whether he'll be branded a sexual predator.

        The girl's mother plans to make a statement on her daughter's behalf in court. She says her daughter is being tested for the virus that causes AIDS and doesn't want her mother involved. But the mother, who is not being named to protect her minor daughter's identity, hears an echo of Mr. Fellesz' last words to her.

        “He said, "Hell, yeah, I slept with your daughter, and I would do it again!'”

        Mr. Fellesz also wrote the mother from jail, describing his loneliness and seeking her forgiveness. In a March letter he predicts that if he gets out of jail, he'll seek companionship from other females.

        “Terry promised to love, protect and marry my child,” the mother wrote to the judge. “If this man is allowed to reside in the community, it will allow him to continue to prey on others.”
       

Getting tough

        The victim in the second case is an adult who has since tested positive for HIV.

        Nader Gonzalez, 24, a Panamanian visitor whose visa expired, stayed in the United States to continue medical treatment. He also joined an HIV support group.

        He met the victim, an illegal alien from Ecuador, at a Latin music club in 2000; they dated in the spring and summer. His defense in court was that their sex was consensual, but prosecutors showed he lied about his HIV status to her and accused her of infecting him.

        The jury convicted him Tuesday, making him the first to be tried and convicted in Hamilton County under the new assault charge. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker will sentence him.

        These cases show that prosecutors are willing to get tough on this new designation of crime.

        Now it's the judges' turn.

       Denise Smith Amos can be reached at 768-8395, or e-mail damos@enquirer.com.
       

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