Former cop gets 8 years in prison for not telling woman he has HIV

A former police officer is heading to prison for eight years for not telling a longtime sexual partner about his HIV diagnosis.

Ervans Saintclair, 41, was sentenced Friday by Circuit Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer two months after a Palm Beach County jury convicted him of the firstdegree felony charge.

“Police officers are supposed to uphold the law,” the judge said, explaining that the victim in the case was placed in jeopardy countless times. “She could have contracted HIV and died.”

Saintclair’s defense in his April retrial: He didn’t know about his condition.

On Friday, he apologized for making bad choices, and his lawyer, Sim Gershon, asked for a sentence of no longer than the minimum possible 21 months in prison.

Saintclair’s previous employment as a Greenacres city cop was not shared with jurors, to avoid possible bias. But the six jurors reviewed Saintclair’s medical file.

He was found guilty of “uninformed HIV infected sexual intercourse,” which is punishable by up to 30 years.

The victim, 40, testified that she dated Saintclair from 2010 to 2013, with a break in 2012, and they “had sex a lot” — at all times unprotected. She said she was never told he had been diagnosed with HIV and never would have had sex had she known the truth.

Prosecutors said the woman “dodged a bullet” since she has been tested repeatedly for HIV and doesn’t have it.

Saintclair remains charged with four more counts of the same charge, involving different women. There will be a hearing June 26 concerning the next step in those cases. The South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying any of the women due to the nature of the charges.

At the hearing, both Saintclair’s former and current wife, as well as his 16-year-old son, testified on his behalf. Saintclair has five children.

“He’s a changed person,” his ex-wife said. “He has learned his lesson.”

And his current wife told the court, “We all make mistakes.”

Prosecutors say the crimes occurred in various Palm Beach County residences from 2010 to 2013, when Saintclair was still a police officer.

Saintclair found out he was HIV-positive as early as April 2007, when he received blood test results as part of his job screening to become a cop, according to prosecutors.

Saintclair was hired by Greenacres after a doctor assured the city the infection wouldn’t affect his ability to work as a police officer, according to court records.

An investigation began in 2014, after Saintclair’s exwife contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office with a complaint.

She said Saintclair told her about the HIV only after they had sex numerous times, reports show. Investigators said they could not bring charges concerning the former spouse’s claim because too many years had passed.

But the ex-wife offered the names of several women she said were intimate with Saintclair more recently, leading to the charges.