AIDS Victim Who Sold Blood Faces 10 Counts

A West Hollywood man who sold his AIDS contaminated blood to a plasma center and sold potentially deadly sex on the streets was charged with attempted murder today in the first such case in the nation, the district attorney said.

“I know of no other such case . . . ,” said Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. “It’s going to be a hell of a tough case to prove. We’re going to try to make it stick.”

Reiner said the immediate aim of the district attorney’s office is to prevent Joseph Edward Markowski from returning to the streets and contaminating anyone else.

He said his office would ask that he be held without bail when he is arraigned later today on 10 charges including attempted murder, sodomy and assault with great bodily injury.

Desperate for Money

Markowski, 29, admitted he sold blood knowing he might be spreading AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, through the blood supply, Reiner said. He quoted Markowski as telling authorities: “I know that AIDS can kill. But I was so hard up for money I didn’t give a damn.”

He said Markowski gave authorities a list of five male clients who bought sex from him and may have been infected with the AIDS virus. He said one of the men has already been located but tests have not yet established if he has contracted the disease.

Investigators have received conflicting information about the number of blood donations Markowski made and the locations where he made them.

Police described Markowski as a prostitute, and said he was being held in the jail ward at Los Angeles County USC-Medical Center.

The state Senate has approved proposed legislation that would make it a crime, punishable by six years in prison, for someone to donate his blood if he has tested positive for exposure to the AIDS virus. However, the bill must still be passed by the Assembly and signed by Gov. George Deukmejian before becoming law.

“We believe this represents the first of its kind, a criminal prosecution where you have an individual who knowingly has the AIDS virus and is giving blood at various blood banks,” said district attorney’s spokesman Schuyler Sprowles.

Authorities refused to identify the blood donation centers allegedly visited by Markowski.