Police are looking for a 31-year-old man, wanted for purposely infecting hundreds of men and women with the HIV virus. Isaac Don Burks saw it as his duty to “infect as many people as possible” with HIV, a quest which he has been on for a decade.
Burks, of West New York, is facing indictments on eight counts of criminal transmission of HIV. Upon making their announcement about the suspect, prosecutors warned that Burks targets victims via popular gay websites, and apps like Grindr and Adam4Adam.
Additionally, the New York Health Department, has urged potential victims to get tested. “We want to make sure that anyone who may have injected drugs with, who may have had s-x with him, does come forward and get tested,” said NYCHD spokeswoman, Kate Caraway. “We want to make sure that they’re not spreading the virus to anyone else.
“This is the first time we’ve seen someone deliberately trying to spread HIV to so many.”
While the exact number of those infected may be never known, one of Burks’ victims described him as “sick in the head,” saying that he alluded to passing the virus on to at least 300 people. According to the unidentified source, Burks used drugs and alcohol to bring the “guard down,” of his conquests.
He is believed to have been infecting people in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, since 2003. The death of his mother has been cited as the source of his “downward spiral.”
Burks is known to go by several aliases including Stephawn Burks, Isaac Levine, Stefan Burks, Stefan Levine,, and Walter Brooks.
Anyone with information behind Burks’ whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 888-CRIMESC (888-274-6372), and stands to earn a $100,000 reward.
Calls can be made anonymously.
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Photo: NBC NY
