A 33-year-old man from Washington, D. C., faces a 12-year prison sentence for exposing two Arkansas women to HIV. Mark Alonzo Hunter pleaded guilty Thursday in Washington County to charges of knowingly exposing another person to HIV.

He was sentenced to 144 months in the Arkansas Department of Correction and ordered to pay fines and costs. He entered the negotiated plea agreement before 4 th Judicial Circuit Judge William Storey.

Hunter was accused of exposing a woman to HIV from July 2001 to November 2002 without informing her. According to the affidavit, the accuser had dated and later became engaged to Hunter.

According to a mental health evaluation, Hunter was born with hemophilia and contracted the virus when he was 7 through blood transfusions. State doctors diagnosed him with depressive disorder in remission but didn't find he had mental illness.

Fourth Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bill Jones said after the plea before Storey, Hunter was transported Little Rock, where he was set to plea on similar charges in Pulaski County on Thursday afternoon.

Jones said Pulaski County prosecutors agreed to accept a 12-year sentence to run concurrently with the Washington County case.

The victim in Washington County learned that Hunter had HIV after news reports were published about the Pulaski County case, Jones said.

Neither victim in the two cases apparently contracted the HIV virus, he said.

"It was a miracle," Jones said.