A Florida man who hid his positive HIV status from the multiple women he was sleeping with was sentenced to two years in prison.
Gentry Burns, 27, pled no contest Thursday to one count of uninformed HIV-infected sexual intercourse, and two other counts of the same felony charge were dropped. He was also sentenced to 12 months of probation upon his release.
At least two of the women that slept with Burns were diagnosed with HIV after dating him.
An official investigation was launched in October 2019, after his ex-girlfriend told authorities she believed she contracted HIV from him, while the pair dated in 2013 after she launched an investigation of her own.
“The victim had been reaching out to contact other women who were dating Burns in an attempt to warn them,” law enforcement officials explained. “She also provided detectives with the names of the other women she believed Burns could have infected.”
Detectives later surmised that Burns was diagnosed with HIV in January 2014 and went on to have sex with three women without informing them of his status. Authorities claim one woman was diagnosed with HIV in 2017 after dating Burns in 2016.
Sheriff officials also said they believe “Gentry Burns traveled extensively along the East Coast of the United States and may have had contact with additional victims in other states.”
