Lawsuit Claims Legislator Had AIDS Virus
A woman has filed a lawsuit contending that she contracted the AIDS virus from Walter M. Ingalls of Riverside, who served 10 years in the California Assembly and died last year at age 46.
Sandi Halverson, in suing Ingalls’ estate, said the ex-legislator left her infected with the virus and that she cannot afford proper medical treatment. Halverson, of Norco in Riverside County, filed the action in Riverside Superior Court this week.
Ingalls’ mother, Edith, denied that her son had the AIDS virus, but acknowledged that he went out with Halverson.
Ingalls died July 7. His body was cremated the next day. The death certificate listed the cause of death as liver failure due to chronic active hepatitis.
Riverside police arrested Ingalls in October, 1986, for allegedly propositioning two male plainclothes police officers at a public park. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of lewd conduct, was fined $180 and placed on three years’ probation.
Ingalls, who served in the Assembly from 1972 to 1982 and retired to resume private law practice, was chairman of the Transportation Committee and authored major legislation in that field.
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