Syphilis

Houston Janitor Who Urinated In Water Bottles At Doctor's Office, Spreading STDs To Workers, Sentenced

HOUSTON – A man with multiple sexually transmitted and communicable diseases was sentenced to six years in prison for urinating into office workers' water bottles, resulting in the victims contracting herpes simplex 1 and hepatitis A.

Lucio Catarino Diaz was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to an aggravated assault with deadly weapon charge.

According to prosecutors, Diaz already served more than two years behind bars. He will be eligible for parole after serving three years of his six year sentence.

Houston police said the disturbing occurrences happened at a doctor's office along Houston's East Freeway, where the victim was employed for 20 years.

According to court documents, there was a 5-gallon water dispenser at the medical practice that was used by staff and others. It was the type of dispenser that had hot and cold settings and situated in a common area to be shared.

On Aug. 30, 2022, an employee dispensed water from it and noticed it had a funny taste and smell. The woman said, after noticing the water tasted sour, she dumped it out.

ORIGINAL STORY: Janitor with STD gives office worker incurable disease after repeatedly urinating in her water bottle, investigators say

From then on, she no longer drank from the dispenser and brought her own water bottle to fill.

The next incident occurred in September of 2022.

The woman said she left her personal bottle, which was half-filled with water, on her desk. When she went to drink the water a day or so later, she noticed it had the same type of funky taste and smell she encountered in the shared dispenser.

She dumped the water out and threw her personal bottle away.

Afterward, she purchased another bottle to bring to work.

One day, a co-worker offered to pour her some coffee in the bottle, but when she removed the cap, she noticed there was a yellowish liquid inside.

The women smelled it, and realized it was urine, Houston police said.

They took the bottle to the on-site physician, who ran a lab test on the liquid. Results confirmed it was, indeed, urine, according to court documents.

They shared their findings with another co-worker, who then remarked that she, too, had a similar strange occurrence of what they experienced.

READ: 13 women file lawsuit against after contracting STD from water bottles infected by janitor

Since the office did not have security cameras, the woman whose water bottle had been violated purchased a small camera from Amazon and attached it to her computer. Within a short period of time, the motion detector alerted there was movement near the camera.

The woman reviewed her independent surveillance set up, which showed a disgusting act.

According to investigators, cameras showed the janitor uncap the water bottle on the woman's desk, unzip his pants, and place his private part inside the bottle.

After urinating inside the bottle, he recapped the water bottle and placed it back on the desk.

Footage showed him repeating the vile act twice over a few days.

RELATED: Herpes diagnoses for 2 more office workers after infected janitor urinated in water bottles

The woman immediately contacted police, who went to question Diaz.

Investigators said, during questioning, Diaz admitted that he did it with malicious intent, according to documents. He allegedly told investigators that he had a "sickness" and did not know how many times he urinated in the workers' drinking supply.

Blood and urine samples were obtained from Diaz and results indicated he tested positive for herpes simplex 1 virus and hepatitis A. One of them was incurable, documents state.

The victim also had lab work done and learned she had contracted the incurable diseases. Doctors said it could have been transmitted to her after she came into direct contact with Diaz's bodily fluids, which he placed in her personal property.

It also turned out, she was not alone.

On Nov. 16, 2022, it was discovered that two more women also were infected with the same diseases.

Doctors also said the diseases can weaken the immune system and, in some cases, be life threatening.

The District Attorney's Office filed on Oct. 13, 2022 against Diaz. He was arrested and was being held by immigration officials.

Since Diaz has already served more than two years behind bars, he will be eligible for parole after serving three years of his six year sentence.

According to court documents, Diaz will not have to register as a sex offender.

Diaz' Attorney Jimmy Ortiz released the following statement:

Mr. Diaz was remorseful for his actions and did not want to go to trial and put the complainants through that process as well. He accepted responsibility for his actions and accepted the negotiated plea offer.

The March 25th court setting is to give the complainants an opportunity to come to court and give a victim impact statement.

Copyright 2022 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

Breaking The Taboo About Vaginal Discharge: What's Normal And When Women Should See A Doctor

Looks like: Scrambled egg whites – thick, white and clumpy

Discharge is often accompanied by redness, swelling and itching around the vagina, and a burning sensation during urination or sex.

Yeast infection is common. It affects 75 per cent of women at some point in their lives, said Dr Siow. It is caused by the overgrowth of a type of fungus that usually exists in small amounts in the vagina.

Poor hygiene habits and sexual activity can disrupt the vaginal balance, leading to an overgrowth of yeast. Hormonal fluctuations due to pregnancy, menopause, or birth control use, along with unmanaged diabetes or a weakened immune system, can also elevate the risk.

It is primarily treated with antifungal medicine, not antibiotics. In fact, antibiotics may increase the risk by "killing off normal protective bacteria in the vagina, leading to an overgrowth of yeast", said Dr Wong.

The good news is that yeast infection from antibiotic use is usually self-limiting, and may resolve on its own without treatment, she added. However, do seek treatment if the infection is severe or persists.

3. Bacterial vaginosisis (BV)

7 Best At-Home STD Tests Of 2025 That We Trust

Brooke Piperato recognized that STIs that go undetected can affect fertility in people with vaginas, and as a newlywed, she thought it wise to test preemptively.

"It's important [for all folx] to get tested regularly, even when you have a long-term partner (as I do)," she said. "We will be family planning in the next couple of years, so we will want to know of anything that might hurt our chances of a successful pregnancy and try to nip it in the bud."

Piperato appreciated Nurx's package delivery, saying: "The test kit came in discreet packaging; the box the tests came in was completely blank, with no text. I appreciated their thoughtfulness on this, in case one might want to keep this information private."

Piperato also said the kit included three tests (vaginal, throat, and blood), as well as a large step-by-step instructional card to guide you through the collection processes with visuals. She said each of the printed materials came with a corresponding QR code that provided videos and online instruction.

"My only qualm with this test is that they send you many more materials than you actually need. For example, they sent me four of the little pricking tools and several bandages, when they only instructed me to take a single prick.

"I was definitely more nervous heading into this test than I needed to be because I thought I might need to prick myself a few times."

Nurx processing seemed to take a little longer than the processing for other tests, by Piperato's account: "I shipped my results on a Tuesday and got a notice that they were received by Nurx on Saturday. It took an additional 5 days to receive the final results."

Piperato said her results were shared directly by a nurse on the Nurx team. The results came directly to her email inbox and as a message in the app.

"I was surprised that the results did not include any numbers/measurements," she said. "[My nurse] Carol interpreted my results for me. She explained that all of my results were negative, indicating that I do not have any of the conditions I was testing for. If a condition is present, you might expect to see more stats to help explain any abnormalities."

Piperato noted that people are eligible for follow-ups and can ask questions as part of this step.

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