Springfield man charged with infecting woman with HIV, then trying to pay her off

Harrison Keegan
News-Leader

A Springfield man has been accused of infecting a woman with HIV and then offering her money to not cooperate with law enforcement.

Marcus Price, 36, was charged Wednesday with two felonies — tampering with a witness in a felony prosecution and recklessly infecting another person with HIV.

The HIV charge is a Class A felony that carries a possible life sentence.

Marcus Price

According to a probable cause statement in this case, Price has been HIV positive since at least 2010, when he tested positive in Illinois.

In March 2018, the statement says Price had unprotected sex with a woman in Springfield without telling her he was HIV positive.

The woman was hospitalized later that month, and she learned she was HIV positive. The woman had been tested a few months earlier and she did not have any sexually transmitted infections, according to the statement.

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Once police became involved in the case, Price allegedly offered to pay the woman money he was getting from a legal settlement if she would not cooperate with the prosecution.

Price is being held in the Greene County Jail on $50,000 bond. He does not have an attorney listed for this case.

In a court filing, prosecutors say Price is "an ongoing danger to the community" because he recently posted an ad on Facebook asking for cuddles.

During the HIV epidemic of the 1980s, many states implemented laws related to HIV exposure. As of 2018, Missouri was one of 26 states that still had laws criminalizing HIV exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.