Repository staff report
CANTON – A former Stark County man was convicted Monday in Canton Municipal Court of knowingly infecting a woman with a sexually transmitted disease.
The 54-year-old man, who now lives in Summit County, pleaded no contest to exposing another to contagion, a second-degree misdemeanor. Court officials said it was the first case of its kind tried in Stark County.
He was accused in August 2019 of purposely infecting a former girlfriend with herpes.
Municipal Court Judge Curt Werren initially ruled that the law was vague and dismissed the case, but city prosecutors appealed the ruling. The 5th District Court of Appeals disagreed with Werren's decision, saying it was based on his own internet research. The court returned the case to the municipal court for further proceedings.