State officials are now advising anyone who engaged in “risky business” with an Ohio sex worker—who is believed to have had contact with over 200 customers despite knowing she was HIV positive—to come forward and get tested.
According to police, Linda Leccesse, 30, interacted with 211 or more clients from various states in the two years following January 1, 2022, the day she underwent an HIV test and discovered she was positive for the potentially fatal illness.
The majority of those consumers were approached by Leccesse on Market Street in Marietta, a tiny city in southeast Ohio bordering West Virginia; nonetheless, it is thought that the potentially affected individuals are dispersed along the East Coast.
Chief Deputy Mark Warden of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office stated at a press conference last week that “this case could stem anywhere from Florida up the East Coast, but there are local individuals that we will be reaching out to,” as reported by the Parkersburg News & Sentinel.
In addition to requesting that anyone else who may have had contact with Leccesse get in touch with authorities, police have started contacting Leccesse’s known clients to inform them of the problem.
“They’re not in trouble, this is public-health awareness. This is not a scam,” Warden stated.
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According to the Marietta/Belpre Health Department, everyone who may have been with Leccesse is asked to be “brutally honest” with authorities.
Barbara Bradley, the superintendent of the Marietta/Belpre Health Department, stated that the agency is a judgment-free zone with complete secrecy. She also mentioned that anyone who had sex with Leccesse’s clients or their relatives could be at risk from the “risky business.”
After Leccesse was taken into custody on May 13 for allegedly pursuing sexual relations on Market Street, authorities discovered that she was HIV positive and had known for over two years.
She was charged with a third-degree felony the next day for participating in solicitation following a positive HIV test.
