San Diego Landscaper Pleads Not Guilty to Intentionally Spreading HIV

A landscaper from San Diego who claims to be related to labor leader Cesar Chavez stands accused of intentionally infecting two dozen men with HIV, reports the UK Daily Mail.

"Yay lol. Someone getting poz that day. Already poz. Poor sucka," reads a text message 29-year-old Thomas Miguel Guerra allegedly wrote. Guerra goes by the name Ashton Chavez on the online hookup site Grindr.

On August 28, San Diego's attorney's office reportedly presented the court a complaint that alleged that Guerra had intentionally infected a man with HIV. They contend that he was "on a mission to spread the potentially deadly virus to as many people as possible." The misdemeanor comes with a maximum sentence of six months and a $1,000 fine.

California law states that "anyone with any contagious, infectious or communicable disease who willfully exposes himself or herself to another person," is guilty of a misdemeanor. But the bulk of these HIV criminalization laws were created in the 1980s, when not much was known about the epidemic, and are largely used today to criminalize sex among people living with HIV -- often even if relations are protected and consensual.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Superior Court Judge Dan Link rejected the city's attorney's request to increase bail for the landscape architect who lives in Imperial Beach, but he did order Guerra to stay away from Internet dating sites.

Guerra's Attorney James M. V. Fitzpatrick said his client maintains he is innocent, and pleaded not guilty when arraigned on Sept. 2. He said that the allegations were made by a jilted boyfriend after a bad break-up. His next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.

CBS News 8 reports that the original accuser in the case said that Guerra was a "sociopath" who was "using his body to infect these people. Why? I don't know why he's doing this. He's forever changing these people's lives and these people have no clue what's happening to them."

Investigators say they have obtained hundreds of emails and text messages in which Guerra brags about his conquests and how he "duped them" into having unprotected sex. Other alleged victims have also come forward to say Guerra infected them with HIV.

The city's attorney is pursing an ongoing investigation. And the original complainant said that while he wants the investigation to continue, he agrees that it was an individual's responsibility to protect themselves from contracting HIV.