AIKEN --- A former teacher already facing a charge of sexually assaulting a girl has been arrested on a charge of knowingly exposing the girl and an ex-wife to HIV.
"This is an ongoing case," Aiken Department of Public Safety Lt. David Turno said Friday. "This is something that came to light during the investigation."
Joel Lynn Bedenbaugh, 47, now of Camden, S.C., was charged last year with criminal sexual conduct involving an 11-year-old girl, allegations that spanned from 2003 to 2005. Lt. Turno said that case is still awaiting trial and that authorities learned of his HIV status during the investigation.
Officers contacted the girl and an ex-wife of Mr. Bedenbaugh to see whether they were aware he was infected. Lt. Turno said that when officers learned the two had not been informed, the new charge was pursued.
Mr. Bedenbaugh turned himself in to the Aiken County Detention Center on Thursday and was bailed out the same day.
Mr. Bedenbaugh taught art part time at St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School in Aiken and at Warren Road Elementary in west Augusta, according to Augusta Chronicle archives.
According to state law, anyone who knowingly exposes someone to HIV without first notifying the person of their condition can be charged with a felony punishable by up to a $5,000 fine or a maximum 10 years in prison.
Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Ten years!!!!!
Yeah ten years of tax payer financed medical treatment. They should get worse than that though, the death penalty perhaps. That's the slowest murder i can think of to infect someone and you already know your status.
$5000, that really is a slap on the wrist and in the face of the victim if you think about it.... And think about this, 10 years of free health care for a fatal disease.......Talk about screwed up.
Purposely exposing someone to HIV without first notifying them is premeditated murder.
How heartbreaking that he exposed this 11 year old girl & his ex-wife to HIV. It's outrageous that the punishment for this is only a $5,000 fine or 10 years in prison. It should be an automatic life sentence. No more, no less.
A true piece of s##t!!!!
I want to see a picture of this horrible pervert. Where is he from?
Well,...the only lover he will have in prison is other infected inmates. Hopefully, he will passed around like he passed his disease around.....pervert !!
May God heal the little girl and her mother and let no signs be found in them. God is a healer to the believer. What the devil meant for harm, let God heal and fix it so that God can get the glory out of all of this.Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and the rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.Hezekiah prayed to God and believed. God added 15 years to his life. May God bless all of the families and people involved, even the accused. God still love the sinner but he hates the sin. Imagine how many more unsafe marriages are out there where one or more partners are
cheating or having downlow relationships. This is a pure trap of the devil and I would rather have no sex than to have it once and the explosion that only lasts for a for a second is deadly poison. God gives us warnings before destruction. We need to pray that God changes the inhuman, unethical, sick, and animalistic behavior that some adults show toward God little children. May God be with this youth daily and heal her immediately. Read and believe Isaiah 53;5,6. Trust God word and nothing else.
Firing squad....with machine guns! How could anyone do that to a child!!
And he is a TEACHER for God's sake.. and at TWO schools!!!
Attempted murder.
10 years and don't give the sicko any medications. Let him suffer as much as possible until he is cold.
We need SEX-ED. I just found the largest HIV dating&support site Positivefish. com. It has more than 500,000 members!
OMG! Why so many guys and girls on the site are very sexy? Why so many people infect HIV?
Why someone in this day and age would have unprotected sex is beyond my comprehension. Although condoms help a lot, it is not 100% guaranteed against STD's only total abstinence is guaranteed.