JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – These days, meeting people and finding potential dates is right at your fingertips. With that ease can often come danger, especially if the person you meet is keeping a secret from you. A secret that could potentially be fatal.
That's exactly what happened when one woman met Tremaine D. Platt online and started having sex with him without Platt telling her that he had HIV.
Platt was arrested Friday, charged with having sex without disclosing his HIV status. He is being held on $15,000 bond.
Platt's accuser called police March 22 and reported that she and Platt had unprotected sex several times before he told her he was HIV-positive and had known his status for years. She said Platt also confessed to her that he has hepatitis B.
During her interview with police on March 23, the victim said she met Platt online, through Craigslist, and that they had chatted via the Kik app. The victim said she met Platt at his apartment and they had consensual sex on March 8, using a condom, but the condom broke, and they stopped having sex.
The victim said she asked Platt several questions about his HIV status and if he had ever been tested. She said Platt told her he'd been tested around the end of November 2014 and everything was fine.
The victim said she and Platt had consensual sex twice more before March 21, both times unprotected. Platt never disclosed he was HIV-positive until March 21, when he and the victim went to the Wellness Center at St. Vincent's Hospital to get tested for HIV.
The victim said Platt confessed that he had known he was HIV-positive for a few years and apologized to her, saying he didn't know how to tell her his HIV status.
Platt also told the victim that he Hepititis B and that he'd known all along.
The next day, the victim called police and they brought her in for an interview. Police then contacted Platt, who turned himself in Friday.
Police said that during his interview with investigators, Platt admitted he never disclosed his HIV status to the victim during the sexual encounters. He was arrested and booked into the Duval County jail.
If convicted, Platt faces up to five years in prison.
Platt has several prior arrests, including three for domestic battery, resisting police and forgery.
News4JAX Crime and Safety Expert Gil Smith took a look at some of the current ads on Craigslist to help warn people who might decide to meet someone on a website like Craigslist.
"Obviously these people aren't looking for a long term relationship necessarily," Smith said.
When it comes to this kind of web surfing and mate seeking, Smith said that no matter what you're looking for, you must always protect yourself.
"First rule of thumb is, don't trust anyone no matter what they say. But if you meet the person and you decide you like that person, and you decide to go to the next level, you'd want to be tested," Smith said.
Smith also said that there is never a good reason not to ask questions no matter what the other person tells you and that it's ok to ask for proof.
"People were doing this quite often back when the HIV virus was first spread around the country. People were asking the people they were meeting and dating for proof, an actual doctor's note of their HIV status," Smith said.
