Midstate men may have spread HIV to unsuspecting victims, indictment alleges

Bibb County grand jurors indicted an HIV positive man Tuesday on allegations that he sodomized a woman and raped a girl under 16.

According to indictments filed in Bibb County Superior Court:

Torrence Fatai Thornton, 43, of Macon, is charged with sodomizing a woman while in possession of a handgun between Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, 2016. He is charged with aggravated sodomy and reckless conduct.

In a second case, Thornton is charged with statutory rape, rape, aggravated child molestation, reckless conduct and two counts of child molestation on allegations that he forced a girl under 16 to have sex between March 1, 2016 and Feb. 19, 2017.

Thornton is being held at the Bibb County jail without bond.

Another man, 35-year-old Antuan Rapheal Howell of Fort Valley, is charged with aggravated child molestation, statutory rape and reckless conduct on allegations that he performed sex acts on a 15-year-old boy at a Macon motel in January, according to an indictment. Howell did not tell the teen that he had HIV, the document said.

Howell was booked into the county jail Jan. 18 and is being held on $17,450 bond, according to jail records.

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Midstate men may have spread HIV to unsuspecting victims, indictment alleges."