DA: 8 more victims of AIDS-infected sexual predator

By STACEY ALTHERR AND ERIK GERMAN
February 25, 2009

Minutes after an AIDS-infected sex offender was charged Wednesday with having sexual contact with several teens, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota called for tougher laws to punish those who knowingly expose others to the disease through unprotected sex.

At a news conference outside court, Spota called Robert Musmacker "a walking public health menace."

Musmacker, 36, of Oceanside had previously been charged with having sexual contact with one 16-year-old male and exposing him to the virus. Prosecutors said upon his Dec. 28 arrest, Musmacker admitted to police that he had full-blown AIDS.

That indictment in January and subsequent police investigation sparked fears that other teens may have been exposed to the virus in the Brentwood school district, where district officials said the 16-year-old boy was briefly a student.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday in Riverhead described a total of nine victims ranging in age from 16 to 20, prosecutors said, with three victims under 17. Spota said Musmacker enticed at least some of the victims to have sex using gifts such as cell phones, phone cards, cash and drugs. Musmacker had contact with the victims in the Brentwood area and at an East Farmingdale newspaper depot where he worked, Spota said.

Musmacker pleaded not guilty to nine counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, along with endangering the welfare of a child and other charges. Judge Barbara Kahn set bail at $1 million cash.

Musmacker's lawyer, John Byrnes of Sayville, did not return a call seeking comment.

Spota said all the victims have been tested for AIDS and treated when necessary. He said state health law prohibits him from disclosing the number of victims infected, if any.

Brentwood Senior High School principal Thomas O'Brien declined to say how many students had identified themselves as potential victims of Musmacker, but said "you can count them on one hand."

"Kids told their stories fairly openly, and we got a pretty good look at what was going on," O'Brien said, adding that the school recently did a "blitzkrieg" refresher course on sexually transmitted diseases.

If convicted of all the charges, Musmacker faces a maximum of 20 years, a sentence Spota said was too short.

"Often, it is not until confronted with a case such as this that inadequacies in the law are revealed to prosecutors and the public," Spota said. "The penal law needs to be reviewed and revised to enhance the penalty and the ability to prosecute an individual who knowingly exposes individuals to HIV," the virus that causes AIDS.

Spota said he planned to meet with Laura Ahearn - head of Parents for Megan's Law, a group that advocates cracking down on sex offenders - to go over statutes currently in force in other states before drafting a bill.

By STACEY ALTHERR AND ERIK GERMAN
Posted Thursday, February 26, 2009

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