YOUNGSTOWN HIV-positive prostitute gets prison

The woman received the maximum term of five years for each count.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- As Judge Maureen A. Cronin read Terri Payton's criminal history out loud Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, a pattern seemed to emerge.
There were several arrests involving prostitution, most of them followed closely by an arrest on drug charges, beginning in the early 1990s. Payton insisted to Judge Cronin that the trend is over.
"I swear I learned my lesson," the 51-year-old Ferndale Avenue woman said. "I ain't never going back to the streets again."
She won't be going back for at least five years. That's how long Judge Cronin put her in prison for soliciting prostitution after testing positive for HIV.
"Terri, you don't leave me any choice," the judge said just before she imposed the sentence. Payton, who was hoping for probation, began sobbing.
Guilty pleas
Payton pleaded guilty in March to two counts of soliciting after a positive HIV test. Judge Cronin sentenced her Monday to five years for each count but ordered that the terms run at the same time. She gave Payton credit for 60 days she's spent in the county jail.
Payton was indicted by a county grand jury for one count in January 2002. She pleaded innocent and was allowed to remain free on bond while she awaited trial.
After her arrest on that charge, in December 2001, she told an officer and a nurse at the county jail about being HIV-positive. Authorities said she had HIV treatment medication with her when she was arrested.
In January 2003, while still out on bond for the first charge, Payton was again indicted involving soliciting. In both cases, she approached an undercover Youngstown police officer, resulting in her arrest. It was the same officer both times.
Sought probation
Defense attorney Michael Gollings asked Judge Cronin to place Payton on probation instead of sending her to prison. He said the 60 days she's spent in the county jail has gotten Payton's attention and he sees little good in placing her in a penitentiary.
"It would help stop the spread of the HIV virus," Judge Cronin said. "At least to the non-HIV public."
Payton's previous arrests involving soliciting prostitution had been misdemeanors. The two charges for which she was sentenced were felonies because she knew she was HIV-positive and solicited sex anyway.
bjackson@vindy.com