Police: HIV-positive prostitute arrested after not telling sexual partners
GAYLORD, Mi. (WPBN/WGTU) -- The Gaylord Police Department tells us they are investigating a 36-year-old Otsego County woman for allegedly soliciting sex via a Craigslist ad and not disclosing her HIV-positive status to multiple sexual partners.
Sources tell us more than 70-people responded to Mendoza's ad online but it's unclear yet exactly how many of those people followed through with meeting her.
Either way both the Otsego County Prosecutor and Gaylord Police Department say it's a significant public health risk that she failed to tell her sexual partners she was HIV-positive.
In late April Mendoza was arrested at a Gaylord motel for an unrelated charge and put in jail.
Through that investigation police learned Mendoza had been having sex with a man who was unaware of her HIV-positive status.
"When police told him He was surprised he of course had no idea he had been exposed to that," said Sgt. Frank Claeys with the Gaylord Police Dept.
Police tell us the partners had allegedly been responding to the ad and in some incidents, traded money for sexual services.
Mendoza was arrested on a 17 count felony warrant and was arraigned Tuesday. Among the charges she is facing include HIV/AIDS-Failure to disclose, prostitution/accosting and soliciting as well as using a computer to commit a crime.
Otsego County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Rola says the men who responded to Mendoza's Craigslist solicitation will not be charged.
If the prosecutor were to charge the men involved he would not be able to call them as a witness and if this case goes to trial, which we're told it's expected to, he will need them to testify.
"That's the reason that Michigan recognizes this as a felony. It's not just the specific single individuals involved it's the other persons who they would come in contact with who could also pass it on. Their partners and their partners partners," Rola said.
The Otsego County Health Department has been notified of the case.
When someone does test positive for HIV they are required by law to notify the health department and any other people they could've passed the virus onto.
Mendoza is currently in the Huron Correctional Facility on unrelated charges.
