Prostitute With AIDS Virus Held : Crime: Hollywood man is accused of soliciting even though he knew he had tested HIV positive. Felony prosecution is the first in the county under 1988 law.

In what authorities believe is the first prosecution of its kind in Los Angeles County, a male prostitute was accused Thursday of continuing to ply his trade while knowing he had tested positive for AIDS.

“If a person has AIDS and goes out and solicits, it is obviously a very serious offense, dangerous to other people, and therefore a felony,” said district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Charged with felony prostitution was Demitri Santangelo, 29, of Hollywood, also known as Scott Borden and Blake Milton Bordeaux, Gibbons said. Santangelo, an unemployed waiter, is to be arraigned today in Los Angeles Municipal Court. He remained jailed Thursday in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Santangelo was arrested Sept. 27 for investigation of prostitution after he allegedly solicited an undercover police vice officer for sex near Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street, Gibbons said.

Under a law that went into effect in 1988, a felony charge can be filed against a person who has been convicted of prostitution, tests positive for acquired immune deficiency syndrome and is informed of the test results, and then is arrested again for prostitution.

Because of a May 24 conviction on prostitution charges, Santangelo underwent a court-ordered blood test and was told he tested HIV positive, Gibbons said.

When assistant city attorneys prosecuting Santangelo for his lastest prostitution arrest noticed his previous arrest and test results, they forwarded the case to the district attorney’s office for felony prosecution.

No such cases have been filed in Los Angeles County, and few, if any, have been filed elsewhere in the state since the new law, Gibbons said.

“This is a textbook example of why the law is written,” she said. “The whole purpose of the law is to prevent the AIDS virus from being passed on to an unwitting victim. He knew he had AIDS, or that he had tested positive for AIDS.”

Routine prostitution cases are filed as misdemeanors, with a maximum penalty of 45 days in jail for a first or second offense and 90 days for a third offense. If convicted of the felony count, Santangelo could be sentenced to up to three years in state prison, Gibbons said.

Hollywood residents have long complained about male prostitution along Santa Monica Boulevard.

“I think they are signing some death warrants,” Lt. Peter Durham, head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood vice unit, said recently. “It scares the hell out of me, and it scares the hell out of my men.”