
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993                   TAG: 9304280110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: San Antonio Express-News
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Medium

INITIATION TO GANG WAS RISKY HIV SEX, TEXAS OFFICIALS SAY

Police are trying to verify stories of girls who say they had sex with an HIV-infected gang member, but authorities say they likely can't file criminal charges against the man because "these young ladies are seeking out these individuals" for sex.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that several girls said they proved their toughness by having sex with an HIV-infected member of the city's largest gang.

Police spokesman Sgt. David Ramos said authorities would be unable to file a charge of intentional exposure of another to HIV because, "according to this article, . . . there is no criminal violation" due to the girls' knowing consent.

The article related Planned Parenthood counselors' accounts of 14- and 15-year-old girls who bragged while being tested that they were dared to risk exposure to the virus that causes AIDS as part of a gang initiation rite.

So far, none of the five girls has tested positive.

The article inspired inquiries from "The Today Show" and "Prime Time Live," as well as talk-show hosts Montel Williams, Jenny Jones and Sally Jessy Raphael, among others.

At a Monday news conference, Ramos said the Police Department had been unaware of the girls' claims.

"None of the girls or their families has come to the Police Department to lodge a complaint of any type," he said.

However, he said, in light of the article, information was being gathered by police units that deal primarily with gangs.

Officers are working with Planned Parenthood, but the group's confidentiality rules prohibit the releasing of girls' names.

"These [officers] are going to try verify that this is actually a true practice among gang members," Ramos said.

He said police also hope the girls will contact them, especially "if they feel like they have been violated."

Ramos said reports of promiscuity among gang members and of girls having sex as part of gang initiation "is nothing new to us," and that the stories of girls accepting a dare to have sex with a gang member who tested HIV-positive are plausible.

"We're dealing with young, uneducated juveniles here. Yeah, I guess it's possible," he said.

"Luring unsuspecting females into the gang is another type of activity that they get involved in," he said.

Ramos said police officers who monitor gang activity have discovered that gang violence in San Antonio, unlike that in some cities, does not revolve around territorial rights or drug trafficking, but around females and sex.

Planned Parenthood counselors told the Express-News a frightening story of five girls who were tested for the AIDS virus over the past several months.

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Jo Ann King-Sinnett said the girls boasted of the dare while being tested.

by CNB