Posted Nov. 4, 2005 – An Ex-D.C. government worker, who police say has known since 1996 that he has the AIDS virus, was sentenced Thursday to almost 22 years in prison for luring women and teenage girls into sexual relationships without telling them that he had the disease, The Washington Post reported.

Washington, D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert I. Richter told 34-year-old Sundiata Basir, a onetime assistant to a deputy mayor, that he "knowingly put uncountable people at grave risk," calling him a  "violent, self-absorbed outlaw.

:: AD ::

Among the victims were a 15-year-old girl and Basir's wife, who was then 17, The Post reported. Basir pleaded guilty to first-degree child sexual abuse in the former case, and second degree cruelty to children in the latter. He also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault in the case of a woman he had a long-term relationship with who later became HIV-positive, the paper reported.

We have a man who repeatedly and wantonly went around town, met young women -- girls -- gained their trust, and then when they asked him whether he had AIDS, when they inquired about whether they should have unprotected sex he outright lied to them," U.S. Attorney Ken Wainsteen told WTOP radio.

Prosecutors told The Associated Press that they were able to identify seven victims, and that Basir has fathered seven children with six women and girls but none of the children has been diagnosed with HIV.   

Does Basir's punishment fit his crime?  Click on "Discuss Now" and talk about it.