An HIV-positive former Boy Scout troop leader in Montgomery, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Monday to 16 to 40 years in prison for having unprotected sex with a 14-year-old boy (nbc10.com, 10/31).
David Mayberry, 52, was charged in 2005 after arranging a rendezvous with a then 12-year-old boy he had met online. The HIV status of the boy has not been made public.
The judge ruled that Mayberry’s negligence put the child at risk, with prosecutors labeling him as a “classic child predator.” While Mayberry says that it was the boy, and not he, who initiated sexual contact, allegedly no evidence has surfaced to support this claim.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
