An HIV-positive man knowingly slept with dozens of women without first disclosing that he had the virus or using any form of protection while having sex.
Danny C. Perry, 41, pleaded guilty last week in a Nashville courtroom and was sentenced to six years in prison for passing on the incurable virus.
The victim who pressed charges against Perry found a series of conversations in Perry’s Facebook account, which noted that he was in a sexual relationship with at least 19 women over the past two years, police said.
Perry was married at the time, and prosecutors said he acted like he did not know anything when the victim called him in September 2016 and told him that she tested positive for HIV.
Kate Boston Melby, the assistant district attorney in charge of prosecuting Perry, is reaching out to see if there are other victims who had sex with him and tested positive for HIV as a result.
“Mr. Perry is a predator,” Melby told the Tennessean. “And we’re here for any victims who have the strength and courage to come forward. We want them to know we’ll support them no matter what the circumstances.”
Melby added that Perry did not use a condom when having sex with his victim, saying that he was “reckless.”
“He knowingly infected someone with HIV, knowing that he had it, knowing that he could prevent it by taking his medication and by using other forms of protection during their relationship,” Melby said. “And he still chose to be reckless with other people’s lives.”
One of Perry’s ex-girlfriends, Marvelyn Brown, testified at his sentencing and said that he knowingly gave her the sexually-transmitted disease in 2003. However, that charge did not appear on Perry’s rap sheet.
Brown posted on Facebook that testifying was one of the hardest days of her life, but she had some choice words for Perry.
“Danny Perry, fuck you,” she wrote. “Don’t drop the soap.”
Police said additional charges could be pressed against Perry if more victims come forward.
People with HIV cannot give the virus to others if they take anti-viral medication prescribed by doctors. It is unknown why Perry was not on the anti-viral medication.