Inmate serving time for HIV transmission dies in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - A 48-year-old inmate serving a 25-year sentence in Coralville's Iowa Medical and Classification Center for criminal transmission of HIV has died at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Darrell J. Alderton died Sunday of natural causes due to atherosclerotic heart disease after serving nearly six years on his sentence, which began July 6, 2006, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Alderton pleaded guilty that May to two counts of criminal transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Each charge came with a 25-year sentence, but the judge ordered the sentences to run at the same time.

The charges stemmed from accusations that Alderton in June 2005 sexually assaulted a fellow inmate at the Johnson County Jail, where he was being held on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

In that case, police said, Alderton forced the 16-year-old boy to have sex with him in his Iowa City apartment and didn't tell the boy he had HIV.