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Woman Fights to Keep Man Who Gave Her HIV Behind Bars

'It’s not fair that he can get out in 6 years and can do this to somebody else'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2015 4:24 PM CDT
Woman Fights to Keep Man Who Gave Her HIV Behind Bars
   (Shutterstock)

Katharine Richards was in a three-year relationship with Lonnie Shane Tabor—she had even lived with him—when she came home from a vacation to learn that he had been arrested for attempted sexual assault. A detective told her Tabor, now 50, was HIV-positive. Richards, now 43, knew Tabor had health issues, but he'd never disclosed his HIV status. She subsequently found out he'd given her HIV. Tabor was sentenced to 25 years in prison for criminally transmitting HIV; he's served six years of it, and on Wednesday, the Iowa Board of Parole will consider whether he should be paroled. Richards is fighting it, as the Des Moines Register reports in a fascinating exclusive.

"My infection was pre-meditated. He would like the world to believe he is, in fact, the victim of a malicious ex-(girlfriend) and an unfair law," Richards says, but the truth is, "He is not safe. He has not taken responsibility. He hasn’t ever apologized. ... It’s not fair that he can get out in six years and can do this to somebody else." The father of the alleged attempted sexual assault victim (the charges were dropped after Tabor was convicted of felony HIV transmission in order to spare her from having to testify) is also fighting Tabor's parole. "I believe Lonnie Shane Tabor will re-offend if permitted the opportunity, as evidenced by his own lies during the trial where he claimed he told (Richards) he was HIV positive at the beginning of their relationship," the father wrote. "Furthermore, he sent letters from jail indicating a lack of remorse or guilt." Click for the full story. (More HIV stories.)

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