Man Indicted for Assault, Reckless Endangerment for Allegedly Giving Ex-Wife HIV
A Long Island, N.Y., man has been charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment for allegedly giving his ex-wife HIV, Newsday reports. Morris Lindenbaum's attorney, Harold Levy, said Lindenbaum's unnamed ex-wife was aware that he had HIV when she married him in 1994 and filed criminal charges against him to support a pending civil suit. "She's trying to use the DA's office to get money," he added. However, District Attorney James Catterson said that Lindenbaum told the woman he was HIV-negative when she "specifically" asked about his disease status out of concern over possible past intravenous drug use. The woman contracted HIV sometime between September 1994 and October 1996 and has since developed AIDS (Smith, Newsday, 10/18). Lindenbaum, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, was released on $250,000 bail posted by his mother an hour after his arraignment by Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Stephen Braslow (Crowley, New York Post, 10/19).
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