A 49-year-old Houston man has been charged with aggravated assault of a 15-year-old boy with a deadly weapon — HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Kevin Lee Sellars is accused of having sex with a boy he met online and flew to Houston from Indiana for 10 days in December, prosecutors said. He was charged Friday.

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Eric Devlin said Sellars coerced the child into sexual acts from Dec. 20 to Dec. 30, by saying he would not pay for the return trip home unless the boy complied. After the “relationship” soured, Sellars told the boy he was infected .

While the child’s parents live in the Houston area, prosecutors believe the boy returned to Indiana, where he lives with other family members, and alerted authorities.

Devlin said investigators believe Sellars is infected, but do not know if the boy also is infected.

Devlin, chief of the District Attorney’s office crimes against children division, Devlin said the charge is a first in Harris County.

Because the boy is more than 14 years old, the charge would be sexual assault of a child. The use of force or a deadly weapon — in this case prosecutors are calling HIV a deadly weapon — upgrades the charge to an aggravated offense.

Devlin said investigators arrested Sellers and searched his Midtown apartment early Friday. They found several images of a nude boy on Sellars’ computer and charged him with possession of child pornography, Devlin said.

Sellars remains in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bail.

Sellars’ appointed defense attorney did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

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