Cops: Missouri Man Says He Exposed 300 Men to HIV

David Lee Mangum was arrested last week
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 5, 2013 6:03 AM CDT
Updated Sep 5, 2013 8:00 AM CDT
Cops: Missouri Man Says He Exposed 300 Men to HIV
A HIV/AIDS rapid blood test shows the two red strips of a positive result.   (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

An HIV-positive Missouri man now has more to fear than romantic rejection. Police allege that David Lee Mangum has exposed some 300 sexual partners to HIV in the last decade, which is how long he has known he's had HIV. They say the 37-year-old told them as much during their interview with him, reports the Daily Statesman. Mangum was arrested Aug. 28 after a former partner, identified only as DB, contacted police. DB says Mangum told him he had no STDs, but that after the two broke up in June he received a phone call from Magnum's old roommate, who alerted him to Magnum's condition. DB's HIV test came back positive.

The Los Angeles Times cites two jarring facts from the probable-cause statement. First, police wrote that Mangum did confirm to them that he "never disclosed he had HIV to any of his sexual partners in Stoddard County"—that's a rural Missouri county where as many as 60 of the partners he claims to have had live. Second, Mangum says he never told those partners due to "fear of rejection." USA Today reports he's scheduled to be arraigned this morning; he faces life in prison. (More David Lee Mangum stories.)

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