House arrest for gay DJ’s second HIV violation
Raleigh man admits to failing to use condom, violating probation
by Matt Comer Editor editor@goqnotes.com
Published: November 1, 2008 in News
Joshua Waldon Weaver |
RALEIGH — A gay disc jockey in Raleigh originally convicted of violating HIV infection regulations in August has been placed on house arrest after admitting he broke probation orders in early October.
On Sept. 6, Q-Notes reported that Joshua Waldon Weaver, 23, who works in clubs in Raleigh and Wilmington, pleaded guilty to charges that he failed to disclose his HIV-positive status and engaged in unprotected sex with three people. Weaver was given a suspended jail sentence and placed on probation. The terms of his probation ordered Weaver to use protection when engaging in sexual activity.
Last month Weaver was arrested after Wake County Public Health officials contacted his probation officer with information that he had possibly violated court orders by having sex without a condom. Assistant District Attorney Boz Zellinger told Raleigh’s News & Observer that health officials became aware of the DJ’s violation after he contracted another sexually transmitted disease that could have been prevented by the use of a condom.
Weaver admitted to the violation in court on Oct. 21 and could have faced up to 40 days in jail. District Court Judge Jacqueline Brewer instead sentenced him to six months of electronically-monitored house arrest. He will not be allowed to leave his father’s house except for probation-approved employment. Brewer also ordered Weaver to undergo a psychological evaluation.
If Weaver breaks his probation again, he will face up to 25 days in jail and prosecutors will ask for a two-year quarantine in a state prison hospital.
See the editorial: “Raleigh HIV case warrants news coverage”
“His behavior hasn’t changed,” Zellinger told the Raleigh newspaper after the hearing. “We’re trying to address the callousness his actions have demonstrated.”
Zellinger added, “It’s not a witch hunt. It’s a desire to change his behavior to benefit the community.”
Weaver’s attorney, Evonne Hopkins, who declined to speak with Q-Notes for our original Sept. 6 story, told The News & Observer she’s “confident we will not be back here.”
“Josh is very sorry we’re back in court,” she said.
By Oct. 24 — Q-Notes’ deadline for the Nov. 1 print issue — the story had become a hot conversation topic on a number of gay-focused websites and blogs.
“I’m upset … [t]hat Q-Notes (Charlotte’s gay newspaper) published his photo,” UNC-Chapel Hill alum and health educator, Trevor Hoppe wrote on his blog. “You should know better! I’m so fucking disappointed about this decision. It’s no different that newspapers in the 1950s posting photos of gay men arrested for having sex.”
Opposing the criticisms over news coverage of Weaver’s legal troubles, others said he should be held responsible for his behavior.
“I don’t care what anyone says, if you spread HIV without informing your partner you have committed murder,” a reader commented at Queerty.com. “It will be a slow death, but eventually the HIV will convert and AIDS will take it’s toll. Yes there are drugs that can prolong life, but cure???? No. Josh should be punished to the FULL extent of the law. I find his behaviour disturbing and disgusting!”
Others criticized laws penalizing HIV-positive individuals. “Charging, fining, jailing people for this behaviour also has the consequence of discouraging others from being tested for HIV,” read a comment also on Queerty.com. “Since the crime is ‘knowingly’ passing on HIV, you cannot be charged unless you are aware of your condition and you won’t be aware of your condition unless you are tested. The road to hell is always paved with the very best of intentions.”
On gay blog JoeMyGod a reader wrote, “In effect, the court has turned this from a crime of disclosure to a punishment of behavior. Even if he has sex with someone who knows his status and REQUESTS unprotected sex. Yes, disclosure is a must, but after you share pertinent information it’s up to the individual to decide. Courts will allow people to eat unhealthy foods, drive dangerous cars, smoke and chew tobacco, but not make their own choices regarding sexual health?”
North Carolina Administrative Code 10-41 and North Carolina General Statute 130A-144(f) address control measures regarding the spread of HIV and require those with communicable diseases — including other sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis and tuberculosis — to comply with measures intended to curb their proliferation.
Patient privacy laws have prevented the Wake County Public Health Department from discussing or disclosing the medical specifics of Weaver’s case.
Weaver is only the second Wake County resident in 15 years to be sentenced for failing to follow laws governing the transmission of communicable diseases, according to The News & Observer. In 2007, only 16 people statewide were convicted of violating the communicable disease law. Rather than HIV, many of the instances were related to diseases such as tuberculosis or hepatitis.
{democracy:16}
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I don’t think anyone with HIV should be denied the right to have sex. Its a natural thing, just that you have make some adjustments which you should have before you even caught the disease and refrain from certain sexual activities like oral and rimming. Its sad to see what has happened to Josh though, but I think he needs counseling and needs to understand his consequences. You have HIV and you need to deal with it and your decisions clearly affect the people around you and who you are involved with. He is so darn cute, I wouldn’t mind having him as a boyfriend. I hope he comes to his senses, take care of himself, stay faithful and live a long healthy life. We can’t make cuteness like this just go to waste.
With all due respect (and I am not accusing Enron of being callous) but I think he/or she has touched on a possible reason for the outrage. What if Josh were black, heterosexual, or homeless? Or maybe all three at once.
Would some of you be up in arms about “his rights” then?
I understand there are some people upset that this article was posted on this website and in the printed edition of Q-Notes.
As someone in the legal profession (law enforcement) — it goes without saying that when someone breaks into a home or commits an especially serious crime against another individual (assault, rape or worse) then it is posted in print and makes broadcast news because it is public record.
Mr. Weaver has committed several serious offenses, and broke North Carolina state law not once, but twice — and has gotten off relatively easy both times. In some states, for an HIV+ person to have unprotected sex and not disclose their status is attempted murder with serious jail time.
While I pity Mr. Weaver’s health delimma, I do not pity him for the situation he has put himself in — or other innocent people he has endangered with his reckless behavior.
If he does it again, I hope he gets time behind bars, its just that simple.
And to Matt and the staff at Q-Notes, I applaud you for doing your jobs and bringing this situation to the public. Whether you know it or not, you just may have helped someone who has been in intimate relations with Mr. Weaver — never knew his status — and could be further spreading HIV to others.
Keep up the good work!
This Josh Weaver, I am going to tell you the truth about what the media doesn’t know. I am not a bad person never did anything to deserve this. I am just me I do not know why they are saying a gay DJ what does my Job have to do with this it’s my job nothing else I prefer to meet people off line so I can get to know them. This what stands on why I am convicted. 1st – while being HIV+ I had gonorrhea &Chlamydia 4 times which are curable that is one thing they were charging me for 2nd – I was exposed to syphilis that came back neg. and 3rd 3 people “Named” me in 3 HIV cases never knew who they were. I do tell people all the people I have dated are neg I told them I was poz and were safe. I am not mad at the world and not out there to infect everyone person I see. I pleaded guilty cause I just wanted all the stress lifted off my shoulders and the DA’s were taunting me and we all worked out a plea deal to play it safe cause I didn’t want to deal with all this then the media got hold of this really hurt when you think everyone hates you I never done drugs never smoked and hardly drink I never miss a day with my meds. Last time I was tested for my #s my viral load was under 48 which is undetectable and my CD4 count was 1226. I take really good care of myself. But I told you the real story, do not believe what the media says, hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. I was placed on hosue arest cuase my ex cheated on me we only did oral and he gave me Chlamydia they gave one pill to get rid of it and i was arrested for it Q notes and ever other media out there dont know crap.
After reading this article, I am not very happy with the punishment that they gave to Mr. Weaver and the media spreading all the rumours about his personal‘s identity. And I am aware that the media is trying to warn the community but at the same time, there is the limitations of information that needs to produce in public.
If both person communicated and exchanged any information’s about themselves and they have clear ideas who are they playing with; I think that’s an individual’s decision whatever the after-effect of the situations. I don’t think it is a crime when a person understands about Mr. Weaver’s conditions and both parties decided to play unsafe.
If the person felt violated after the sexual acts that he did to Mr. Weaver, he should of think about it in the first place and let it sink in his mind about all the consequences that he will be encountering before putting himself in danger. You can’t go back and blame the person after the mess you’ve gone through. What done is done.
Funny, if that is actually you Josh that responded you know you’re a liar. And by all the grammatical errors it could very well be you because you never were on the smart side. We knew each other for years. I thought you were my friend. We had sex quite a few times while YOU KNEW you were HIV+ and you LIED to me and told me you were NEGATIVE. YOU GAVE ME HIV. Crazy thing is I never got to press charges and I wasn’t one of the people the state prosecutors nailed you for. But I hardly call probation and house arrest justice for you. I’ve talked to a lot of guys in Raleigh that you’ve been with since. You’ve infected so many and YES, you knew you were doing it. These idiots can have their sympathetic opinions of you, they don’t know the true story.
You’re a monster of the worst kind. And that’s FACT.
by the way, you should have been convicted of murder like this man in Canada. The judge and those involved with the plea agreement in the NC case are living in an alternate reality. Josh Weaver is a murder. Read this story, this is what he should have gotten… life in prison.
http://topnews.us/content/24754-canadian-spreading-hiv-convicted-murder
I read his comments today. If that is even him. I can tell you from first hand experience that he did not disclose his hiv status. We had unprotected sex, and we had sex after I had been tested. I was tested after I had sex with him when I became ill. I hadn’t had any sexual partners but Josh and now I have hiv. So, I don’t care what he says, he infected me and I didn’t know he had hiv. He even accused me of giving him hiv after I told him that he had infected me. The gaul of a man. I have met more than 3 people that have been infected by Josh. I cannot 100% tell you that the others were infected by him. But I can tell you this, I was infected by him and he told me repeatedly that he didn’t have hiv. He gets a slap on the wrist and I have to battle with this infection for the remainder of my life. It just doesn’t seem fair.
I can’t believe the audacity of Josh weaver. I am the supposed ex who “gave him the Clap”. Lets get a few things straight
1) I never cheated on Josh-EVER! I have NEVER cheated on an ex.My current boyfriend read this article and he had doubts whether to trust me. This isn’t fair to me, Josh. In fact, JOSH was the one who wasn’t telling me that he was sneaking off to visit HIS ex who lived outside of the county; thus breaking the ruling against him. I went to visit Josh when he was first sentenced and not allowed to leave the county, got into a huge fight, and he asked me to go back to Myrtle Beach. We were not intimate while I was up there visiting him AT ALL. After I left we never had contact with each other besides a few IMs and texts. 3 weeks went by and I had to fly to FL because my brother was found in a coma. The only way I found out is because I was explaining to my mother what happened because I had not spoken to her for 4 years. Upon looking up an article about him I read that he was in jail AGAIN. I emailed a reporter that interviewed me about Josh months prior. She informed me of what happened. So Josh…how did my non-existent Clap travel from Miami, FL to Raleigh, NC?
2) Your viral load my be low, but as I had to explain to you before, it doesn’t mean that it is not in your semen and blood and can’t be passed to someone else!!
3) You area liar and the walking plague. I stood up for you to everybody. I still have every article and e-mail I ever wrote on your behalf, including the e-mail I sent to the reporter telling her that we broke up and that I was in Miami. Basically I prove you are a liar. ANY ONE OF US can go to the police or Health Department and tell them that we had unprotected sex-oral or anal and have your sorry ass put in jail.
By the way, I also forgot that I have a voice mail from you apologizing for accusing me when you lied to your Dad that I was the one who gave you a V.D. Its funny that you gave HIV to people by topping them because you are the biggest asshole I ever met and you are fu@ked!
If you are hooking up with anybody you should use a condom. If the person does not tell you and you use a condom you should be ok. Anybody who has unprotected sex is taking a risk. Always get the person tested and don’t trust them until you get the ok.
Wow, I’m both glad and furious to have found this blog. First of all I worked with Public Health in Florida for many years. I want to make a few very clear points.
1. Testing and communication are the key points to reducing risk of transmission. Often times when we focus of prosecution of “supposed” criminal acts, there are a great many people that are then alienated from testing. The single greatest factor in reducing transmission is getting people tested. Prosecution often has the opposite effect from what was intended. It HELPS TRANSMISSION OF HIV! People stop getting tested.
2.Communication means you tell your “partner” of your status and they understand the risks. It is each individuals RESPONSIBILITY to protect their own health. You have no one to blame but yourselves. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING HIV! NO ONE ELSE! YOU ARE TRYING TO PUT YOUR ACTIONS ON SOMEONE ELSE’S PLATE. Even my 9 year old, special ed nephew knows about condoms and AIDS. YOU HAVE ZERO EXCUSES!!! ZERO!
3. There is a genetic test that the State can use to determine exactly WHO transmitted a specific HIV virus. No guessing, no question about it. I was told by a public health supervisor in NC that it was rarely used because of expense. Does this sound like a reasonable answer to you? We can just accuse someone and then guess if we are right to prosecute? Typical FEAR TACTICS! NC USES FEAR TACTICS AND LONG TERM THEY ARE DISASTROUS. They do more damage than good! HIV rates in NC have increased by a large factor using these SCARE TACTICS. They don’t work.
4. By eliminating the communication element and self responsibility element from responsible sexual contact with two informed partners you COMPLETELY UNDERMINE the reason for talking about sexually transmitted diseases at all. If you are going to be charged with a crime for revealing and NOT revealing your HIV status, then what is the point?
5.There are many credible studies which show (I am simplifying here) that an undetectable viral load simply DOES NOT transmit the HIV virus. These studies have been done across the world in many countries. They all show the same thing. You condemn responsible adults who care for their illness in the same manner as those who transmit out of ignorance. DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? I had two lovers over 19 years. They were informed of my status. We NEVER had protected sex. NEVER! I took care of myself, they took care of their health concerns. THEY NEVER GOT THE DISEASE AND WE WERE VERY SEXUALLY ACTIVE! VERY! It has been almost 8 years and they still have no signs of the virus!!!
WHY DO YOU ASK?
Transmission from a person with an undetectable viral load and no other STD’s does not occur. There have been studies of over 100 discordant couples over 2 years and zero transmission occurred. By NC LAW (which is asinine) the couple that takes care of their health and has unprotected sex which causes ZERO transmission is just as guilty of breaking the law as the person who has a high viral load and has Unprotected sex and TRANSMITS the disease. This is lunacy, crazy and totally unproductive. Only a state of ignorance could have produced such a law. Only by blatantly ignoring the facts could this have occurred. It is disgusting when I as a layman can read and educate myself to a higher understand than the entire PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF NC! Jesus, People are so stupid!
End of TIRADE! I would be happy to meet with anyone and back up my statements.
It’s true that each of us is responsible for our own behavior. Should there be a law against this guy’s behavior? Not in my opinion. But there is a law, and he’s choosing to break it. But for me that’s not the point. This man has no moral compass. If one knows his status his positive, and he chooses not to tell a sex partner, then that’s dispicable. We can debate the legal aspects all day long, but flat out lying about one’s status or lying by omission (choosing not to tell the truth even if the question is not asked) reveals much more character.
I agree that one should be upfront about being positive…but…um Andrew, buddy…I’ts against the law to have gay sex in NC. Of any variety. Still wanna’ stick with the “it’s illegal morality”.
Josh — Get educated on the real agenda behind HIV. it’s a common retrovirus indicator (P24) they test for. It’s found in 7 different retro viruses, including a very common one, HPV.
Google AIDS reappraisal. In Australia, a straight man was accused of “infecting” three women, he brought with him details of how HIV has yet to pass Kosh postulates, and cannot be identifed in vetro, basically saying it’s not what the theory is.
I’ve been having unprotected sex with my partner for a year now, anal receptive and insertive and he continually “tests” HIV-.
You are not your dis-ease and no government agency should have the ability to bar you from connecting and loving anyone.
This is our last and final freedom people, don’t let them scare this out of you.
HIV is not what they say it is. You think an “undetectable” test means you’re still dis-eased?Not according to thousands of years of scientific research on viruses and the human being.
Peace and love brother, only this will stop the fear machiene.
By the way, get the info on that Aussie case-he was aquitted because no one-not one doctor could prove the existance of any actual “virus”.
Good luck!
Josh, I know alot of people have anger towards you right now!!!! but right now you just have to keep your head up high…i dont agree with all these news stations posting your personal business like address and stuff like that, we all make mistakes and some people learn from it and some people dont, but you need to make sure you are protected so no body else gets sick…..Too everybody else who has posted a comment on here get a life cause coming from a guy here who is HIV negative with many friends that are affected get a life cause Josh is Human just like anybody else and should not be treated like a animal…..Keep your head up and that goes to anyone else who is positive…..God Loves you!!!!