Sailor to Stand Trial on Unsafe-Sex Charge : Court-Martial: Man who tested positive for AIDS virus is accused of disobeying orders to avoid unsafe sex.

A sailor who tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS will go before a court-martial later this month on charges that he had sex with a civilian without first notifying the man that he had the virus, Navy officials said Wednesday.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Lance Larkins, 29, has been charged with assault, disobeying an order not to participate in unsafe sex, and sodomy, said Cmdr. Mark D. Neuhart, spokesman for the 32nd Street Naval Station. Navy officials said that Larkins tested positive for HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

Larkins, who is assigned to the Fleet Combat Training Center, will go before a court-martial board Nov. 20, Neuhart said. He said that Larkins had been specifically ordered not to participate in unsafe sex “after he was found to be HIV positive.”

The charges against Larkins stemmed from a complaint filed by Nick Ashton-Hart, a civilian who said he had a two-month affair with Larkins last year. Ashton-Hart, 24, said he was angered by Larkins’ failure to inform him he was HIV positive and has spoken publicly about the matter.

“I told the Navy that part of the reason why I’m coming forward is that this man is a continuing menace to others and has been a menace to others in the past,” said Ashton-Hart.

He said he and Larkins engaged in sexual relationship from September to November, 1990. Ashton-Hart said he learned in January--after the relationship was over--through a mutual acquaintance that Larkins had tested HIV positive.

According to Ashton-Hart, Larkins had assured him that he had not tested positive for the virus when he was routinely tested by Navy doctors.

However, after he pressed him about the report that he had in fact tested positive, Larkins admitted that he was carrying the HIV virus, Ashton-Hart said.

“He admitted that he tested positive on April 23, 1990, the day after my birthday. . . . And I’m not the only one he’s slept with before or since he tested positive. Before testing positive, he was assigned to (amphibious assault ship) the Tarawa, where he said that he had sex with one or two sailors,” said Ashton-Hart.

“Fortunately, I have not tested positive for the virus,” he added.

Although he learned last January that Larkins had the HIV virus, Ashton-Hart said he waited until June to inform the Navy that he and Larkins had engaged in a sexual relationship. Getting the Navy to act on the information was a frustrating endeavor, he said.

“They were inclined not to do anything. The Navy would have liked nothing better than brushing this matter under the carpet,” Ashton-Hart said. “I had hoped not to go to this extreme, because it is embarrassing to me. But I believe that I had a responsibility to tell what I know. Otherwise, how many people could die if I stayed quiet?”

Navy officials declined to comment on Ashton-Hart’s allegations, except to confirm the charges against Larkins.