HIV-Positive Offender Gets 17 Years

By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer
Originally published by The Associated Press, November 6, 2001

NEW YORK (AP) — A California man was sentenced Monday to 17½ years in prison on a federal child sex conviction after prosecutors argued he deserved a longer prison term because he knew he was HIV positive when he planned to meet a boy for unprotected sex.

District Judge Richard Casey called John Weisser "a predator who poses a significant risk to children."

"The defendant knew he was infected with HIV but nonetheless intended to engage in unprotected sexual acts with a minor," the judge said.

Weisser, 39, of Oakland, Calif., could have faced as little as five years and three months.

Both prosecutors and the defense agreed the case was the first in which a federal defendant was sentenced to a longer prison term because he planned to have sex with a child knowing he has the virus that causes AIDS.

Weisser was convicted last year of using the Internet to entice a child to engage in a sexual act, traveling with the intent to engage in sex with a child and transporting pornography.

The boy actually was a fictional identity created by investigators who exchanged messages with Weisser during a four-month probe, according to trial evidence.

In computer chat rooms, Weisser had indicated that he intended to leave his condoms at his California home when he flew to New York to have sex with a 12-year-old boy, the judge said. Weisser was arrested in a Manhattan hotel room in April 2000.

Weisser's lawyer, Richard Lind, argued for leniency, saying that no child was harmed by Weisser.

Weisser was listed in California's registry of convicted sex offenders after he was convicted in 1986 of two charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 14.