HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- A Henrico Grand Jury indicted Daniel Cleaves, 28, on charges of infected sexual battery. Cleaves, who is HIV positive, is accused of having sex with partners in Central Virginia and not disclosing his HIV status to them.
Cleaves is currently serving time in Montgomery County, Maryland after he pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment charges after he admitted to having unprotected sex and not sharing his HIV status. The Maryland victims had sex with Cleaves in July 2014, but court papers in Henrico revealed Cleaves engaged in risky behavior at least a year prior.
"A grand jury found enough probable cause that he intentionally tried to transmit HIV to somebody else in Virginia, which qualifies for the felony statute," WTVR CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone said. "This is a crime that involves a victim and it is a felony, so you'd think a prosecutor would put money aside to extradite and try this case."
Cleaves received a five-year prison term with all but 18 months suspended in Maryland. Some of his Maryland victims testified to having problems hugging their families and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In recent reports, Cleaves’ attorney stated that his client is on drugs to suppress the virus, and make it difficult to spread.
Fatima Smith, the YWCA Richmond director of community outreach and public education said women who have come into contact with Cleaves have resources that are only a phone call away.
"We do offer counseling services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," Smith said. "It gives them an outlet to turn to whether it happened five minutes or five years ago."
The YWCA urged anyone who might have come in contact with Cleaves and needed help, to call 804-612-6126.
