A man with various sexually transmitted and communicable diseases was sentenced to six years in prison for urinating into office workers’ water bottles, causing the victims to get herpes simplex 1 and hepatitis A.
Lucio Catarino Diaz was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.
According to authorities, Diaz has already served more than two years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after completing three years of his six-year sentence.
According to Houston police, the distressing incidents occurred inside a doctor’s office on Houston’s East Freeway, where the victim had worked for 20 years.
According to court records, the medical office had a 5-gallon water dispenser that was used by employees and others. It was the type of dispenser with hot and cold settings that was placed in a common area for sharing.
On August 30, 2022, an employee poured water from it and noted that it had an unusual taste and odour. The woman stated that after discovering the water tasted sour, she poured it out.
She stopped drinking from the dispenser and instead carried her own water bottle to fill. The following incident happened in September of 2022.
The woman stated that she left her own bottle, which was half-filled with water, on her desk. When she attempted to drink the water a day or two later, she realised that it had the same foul taste and smell as the shared dispenser.
She poured the water out and discarded her personal bottle. She then purchased another bottle to bring to work.
One day, a coworker offered to pour her some coffee into the container, but when she removed the cap, she discovered a yellowish liquid within. Houston Police said the women smelt it and realised it was urine.
They brought the bottle to the on-site physician, who performed a lab test on the liquid. According to court filings, the results indicated that the substance was certainly urine.
They shared their results with another coworker, who then mentioned that she had a similar weird incident to what they had.
Because the office lacked security cameras, the woman whose water bottle was stolen acquired a small camera from Amazon and connected it to her computer. Within a short length of time, the motion detector alerted to movement near the camera.
The woman checked her independent surveillance setup, which revealed a nasty conduct.
According to police, cameras captured the caretaker uncapping the water bottle on the woman’s desk, unzipping his trousers and inserting his private parts into the bottle.
After urinating in the bottle, he recapped it and set it back on the desk. He committed the heinous deed again in a matter of days, according to video evidence.
The woman quickly alerted the police, who arrived to question Diaz.
According to records, Diaz confirmed to investigators during questioning that he did so with malicious intent. He allegedly informed investigators that he had a “sickness” and had no idea how many times he urinated in the workers’ water supply.
Diaz provided blood and urine samples, and the results showed that he tested positive for herpes simplex 1 virus and hepatitis A. One of them was incurable, according to the records.
The victim also had lab work done and discovered she had contracted incurable ailments. Doctors believe it could have been transmitted to her after she came into direct contact with Diaz’s bodily fluids, which he left in her personal belongings.
It also found out that she wasn’t alone.
On November 16, 2022, it was revealed that two additional ladies had been affected with the same diseases. Doctors also stated that the disorders can impair the immune system and, in rare situations, be fatal.
On October 13, 2022, the District Attorney’s Office filed a case against Diaz. He was arrested and held by immigration agents.
Diaz will be eligible for parole after three years of his six-year term, as he has already served more than two years in prison.
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