Woes Follow AIDS Victim Accused of Selling Blood

When authorities in Grand Rapids, Mich., allowed Joseph Edward Markowski to move to San Francisco to serve out a probation sentence stemming from a burglary, they hoped that he might feel less like an outsider in a city with a large gay population.

A more sympathetic environment, they thought, might help him conquer his drinking problem and put his troubled life back on course.

It was a “unique disposition,” his former attorney remembers. It was also a gamble that did not pay off.

Within a few weeks, Markowski, allegedly violated the terms of his probation, and three years later he has become the subject of nationwide attention. Last week he was charged in Los Angeles with attempted murder for allegedly selling AIDS-tainted blood to a private plasma center and also for allegedly having sex while knowing he had the deadly, contagious disease.

Appearing thin and pale, Markowski, 29, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last week in Los Angeles Municipal Court. A preliminary hearing was set for Friday.

Although details of Markowski’s life remain sketchy, he is remembered in Grand Rapids primarily for his role in helping police solve an October, 1983, apartment burglary in which a 60-year-old woman was nearly suffocated.

Markowski’s part in the crime was “very minimal,” his attorney, Patrick C. Bowler, said. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor larceny and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

Bowler said Markowski fully cooperated with police before any arrests were made and later testified against a co-defendant who was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison.

“I want to emphasize that (Markowski) was a very likable young chap,” said Bowler, now a Grand Rapids District Court judge. “My client unfortunately became a hanger-on with a group of desperadoes. . . .

“Joe was not a natural criminal in my mind. He was a kid who had a lot of problems.”

Arrests for Minor Offenses

These problems had resulted in “six or eight” arrests dating back to 1981 for minor offenses like disorderly behavior and urinating in public, according to Grand Rapids police spokesman Lt. Victor Gillis. Police records show that Markowski was suspected of being suicidal, Gillis said.

Bowler said Markowski was unable to hold a steady job: “He kind of bounced around.”

Teachers and other officials at the high school where he graduated in 1976 have only faint memories, if any, of Markowski, who played in the school jazz band for about a year. “He seemed to be a fairly quiet person,” said David Ellis, who directed the Creston High School jazz band at that time.

“He really did not hang out with the kids in the school. He was a loner,” said Pat Reagan, the school’s senior class adviser since 1972.

Markowski “does not know who his biological parents are or anything about them,” said Marlene O’Hara, his probation officer in Grand Rapids. His adoptive father died in 1968.

His adoptive mother, Margaret, a Fire Department clerk, did not respond to a reporter’s telephone calls. Other family members declined to be interviewed.

Markowski was sent out of town--and ultimately to California--in part because of fear that his testimony in the burglary case had put his life at risk, Bowler said. Just after sentencing, he was briefly placed in an alcohol rehabilitation center in Flint, Mich., more than two hours by car from Grand Rapids.

Then, at his request, he was put on a bus for San Francisco, where, under the terms of his probation, he went to live at Acceptance Place, a small alcohol and drug rehabilitation program for homosexuals.

“We wanted to put him in a program where he could survive and progress,” Bowler said. “You can appreciate the problems of mixing Joe with people who don’t understand his ways.”

Left Program

But within a “very, very short amount of time,” Markowski left Acceptance House, probation officer O’Hara said. In August, 1984, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest and remains pending, although Michigan authorities are not expected to try to extradite him.

Acceptance House counselors refused to discuss Markowski, citing confidentiality restrictions.

At some point within the last two years, Markowski turned up in the Los Angeles area, where, police said, he worked as a hustler and lived on the streets, occasionally spending the night in one shelter or another.

Efforts to locate local friends or acquaintances of Markowski were unsuccessful.

“I don’t know this guy. He’s crazy,” a male prostitute working a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard frequented by gay hustlers told UPI. “Nobody knew him.”

Last February, Los Angeles police detectives learned that Markowski had AIDS. Since then, they or West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies have arrested him nine times for misdemeanor charges including shoplifting, vandalism and public drunkenness.

And on seven occasions during the last five months, he has been taken to a psychiatric ward for observation because of suicidal behavior, police said. In six of those instances, he was admitted to County-USC Medical Center but quickly released.

The last referral to County-USC occurred June 23 after Markowski created a disturbance in a bank and asked a security guard to kill him because he has AIDS.

Questioned by police, Markowski “indicated . . . that he had lost 10 to 12 pounds and was not feeling too well,” said Detective Bill Pavelic of the department’s mental evaluation unit.

Receipt Found

Deputy Dist. Atty. Antonio Baretto Jr., who is prosecuting Markowski, said that when police found a receipt in Markowski’s pockets indicating that he had sold his blood, they asked him if he knew he could infect others with the lethal disease.

Baretto, reading from a police report, said Markowski responded: “I don’t care about the people. It’s illegal and immoral but (obscenity) the people. When you’re hurting for money, you’ve got to fill your palm. I’ve sold blood many times and under different names. I need help. Please take me to a hospital.”

Pavelic said County-USC officials were informed in writing that Markowski could endanger the lives of others and were asked to notify police upon his release. But when Markowski was released the next day, police were not alerted, Pavelic said.

Markowski was arrested June 25 when he attempted once again to sell blood to a plasma center, authorities said.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who filed 10 felony charges against Markowski, including four counts of attempted murder, last week criticized County-USC for its “irresponsible actions” in releasing him without notifying police. County health officials have refused to comment on the case.

After Markowski’s arrest, Reiner disclosed, he gave police the names of five men with whom he had had sex. Two of the attempted murder charges stem from alleged sexual encounters with Paris Shaerrell, 44, who is currently in custody at the Hall of Justice.

Shaerrell pleaded guilty May 14 to grand theft.