(Spirit Lake)– Arraignment was held today (Monday) in Dickinson County District Court for a Milford man accused of criminally transmitting H-I-V, the virus that causes AIDS.
31-year-old Duane Boyd pleaded not guilty to four counts of the charge, as well as to a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
A trial date hasn’t been set.
Boyd was initially charged with one count of criminal transmission of H-I-V on August 11th. He was accused of having intimate sexual contact three times between August 1st and August 10th of this year with a female and not telling the alleged victim.
Spirit Lake police say since the initial charge was made public, three additional alleged victims came forward, resulting in three more counts of the crime being filed against Boyd.
Health officials say since Boyd’s arrest, dozens of women in the lakes area asked for H-I-V testing or counseling.
Criminal transmission of H-I-V is a class “B” felony that carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
Boyd was charged under a 1999 law that prohibits infected individuals from exposing someone to the virus without the victim’s knowledge or consent.
