Ex-Official Denies Exposing 2 to HIV
A former city health commissioner accused of deliberately exposing two people, including an ex-boyfriend, to the AIDS virus pleaded not guilty this week.
Ronald Gene Hill, 46, was arrested at his Grass Valley home and jailed on $100,000 bond Sept. 17, five days after being indicted by a grand jury.
Hill’s former lover, Thomas Lister, 38, sued Hill in 2001 for lying about his HIV-positive status while they were dating in 2000. Lister’s suit claimed Hill maintained throughout the six-month relationship that he had been tested for the virus and that test results were negative.
During an Alaskan cruise in July 2000, the suit claimed, Lister discovered that Hill was taking medication for HIV. Lister tested positive for the virus several months later.
Lister was awarded $5 million by a San Francisco judge in a civil suit in March 2002.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
