Police have charged a Wisconsin man with having sexual relations with six women without telling them he was infected with HIV. One has already tested positive after the encounter.
West Allis, Wisconsin, police arrested Waterford resident Jason Taufner, 42, and charged him with six counts of second-degree endangering safety, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Police discovered that Taufner had been HIV positive for at least 12 years. He had already been convicted of a similar charge in 2006, served prison time, and was on extended supervision after his release in 2015. The recent relationships began in 2017.
Taufner reportedly met the six most recent victims while working as a tattoo artist in Milwaukee and West Allis. One was a repeat client and another a fellow tattoo artist.
One victim told investigators she even lived with the suspect for about a year and at one time confronted him about rumors she heard that he was HIV positive. He denied the rumors and convinced her that a past girlfriend floated the rumors to damage his reputation.
All six victims described tattoos the suspect has on intimate parts of his body, including one on his penis. And all said he never informed them he was HIV positive.
Wisconsin has no law explicitly criminalizing the transmission of HIV, but the law does allow suspects to be charged with additional jail time for the “aggravating factor” of knowingly transmitting HIV.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.