Florida Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Knowingly Spreading HIV

A Florida man who knowingly spread HIV to his sexual partners will be spending the next decade in jail.

27-year-old Rasheem Ikey Bodiford was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in state prison and five years of probation for three felony counts of having sexual contact with a person without notifying he was diagnosed with HIV.

HIV is a virus that targets and alters the immune system, increasing the patient’s risk of other infections and diseases. Left untreated, HIV infection can lead to AIDS.

Because the human body cannot get rid of the virus and no effective HIV cure currently exists, people who get infected with HIV will have it for life.

It is spread by contact with the bodily fluids such as blood, semen and rectal fluids of an infected person, most commonly through unprotected sex or by sharing needles.

“These fluids must come in contact with a mucous membrane or damaged tissue or be directly injected into the bloodstream (from a needle or syringe) for transmission to occur,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained.

According to prosecutors, Bodiford had sex with two women from September 2016 to October 2017, but did not disclose he has HIV.

One of the women told Escambia County deputies in 2017 that she tested positive for HIV and her last sexual contact was with Bodiford. She claimed she saw Bodiford in possession of HIV medication, albeit he told her he was selling it for his uncle.

Bodiford’s other victim told police she has been in relationship with him since August 2017, but Bodiford never told her he had HIV.

Bodiford eventually admitted to investigators he had been aware he was HIV positive since September 2016.

A penalty procedure hearing was held in April to determine if Bodiford should be deemed a danger to the public. An Escambia County jury found he indeed poses a danger to the public and Bodiford faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

"Under the current Florida criminal punishment score sheet for these three counts of having sex with another person without notifying that person that he has HIV, Bodiford did not score in the range that allowed him to receive state prison as a punishment," State Attorney Bill Eddins said in a statement.

"Since Bodiford did not score a permissive state prison, the only way for Bodiford to receive a sentence of state prison was for the state to put the question of Bodiford’s dangerousness to the public before a jury.”