A Missouri man is now facing serious charges after it has been revealed that he may have knowingly exposed hundreds of men to HIV in the past decade. Police say it could prove very difficult to notify each individual of their potential infection.

David Lee Mangum, 37, tested positive for HIV in 2003 but failed to notify any of the men that he has been with since then about his condition. Knowingly exposing a person to HIV without their consent is a felony in Missouri punishable by up to 15 years in prison. If that person becomes infected, that prison sentence can be for life.

"Mangum admitted he never disclosed he had HIV to any of his sexual partners in Stoddard County," Dexter Police Det. Cory Mills said. "I inquired why Mangum did not disclose he was HIV positive to his sexual partners and he replied, 'Fear of rejection.'"

The case first came to light after Mangum's former live-in partner came to the Dexter Police Department to complain that Mangum had infected him with HIV. The man, who remains nameless, was not aware of Mangum's status until after the two of them had broken up.

Mangum's former partner states that he was alerted to his exposure to HIV by a former roommate of Mangum's. She had said that he had told her back in 2011 about his condition. When the former partner approached Mangum about the situation, he admitted to having sex with roughly 300 men since he had first tested positive in 2003.

"Our primary concern in putting out information about this case is a public-health concern," Russell Oliver, Stoddard county prosecuting attorney, told the Riverfront Times. "We want folks that may have been exposed to know the dangers they may have encountered."

Mangum had the vast majority of his encounters via the "men seeking men" forum on Craigslist. He did not use protection during any of his encounters, and police are recommending that any men near Stoddard County who used Craigslist for homosexual sex be tested immediately.