HOUSTON — A former janitor in Texas accused of intentionally spreading his sexually transmitted diseases to women working at a Houston doctor’s office has been sentenced to prison, court records show.
Lucio Diaz, 53, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with the deadly weapon being “his bodily fluids,” and sentenced on March 18, court records filed in Harris County show.
A judge sentenced Diaz to six years in prison, court documents show.
Investigators said Diaz infected three women with STDs at the doctor’s office in 2022, McClatchy News previously reported, and a lawsuit filed later says 13 women “tested positive for incurable sexually transmitted diseases” as a result of Diaz’s “daily cleaning ritual.”
The janitor’s actions came to light after a woman who’d been working at the medical practice for 20 years began noticing an odd, unpleasant taste and smell in the water supplied at the office — so she started bringing bottles of water with her to work, McClatchy reported. But soon, she noticed that same issue in her own water.
Later, when a coworker offered to make coffee, they noticed a yellow tinge in the coworker’s water, which smelled like pee. They had it tested and it proved to be urine, McClatchy reported. According to the lawsuit, one of the women set up a hidden camera at her desk and it recorded Diaz taking out his penis and putting it into her water bottle, then placing it back as it was before continuing to clean the office.
Diaz was infected with chlamydia and herpes at the time, authorities said.
Jimmy Ortiz, an attorney representing Diaz, said, “Mr. Diaz was remorseful for his actions and did not want to go to trial and put the complainants through that process as well,” KPRC reported. “He accepted responsibility for his actions and accepted the negotiated plea offer.”
By MITCHELL WILLETTS/McClatchy News
