A dance teacher from Memphis, Tennessee who appeared on a reality TV show was sentenced to nine months in prison Friday (Feb. 28) for raping a teenage student and exposing him to HIV.
30-year-old John Conner III was also ordered to serve four years of probation after he’s released from prison, and he’ll also be required to register as a sex offender for life.
Police said Conner met a 16-year-old boy on social media in 2015 and met up with the teen on several occasions to have unprotected sex in Conner’s car.
Authorities said Conner, who was diagnosed as HIV positive in 2012, failed to disclose his HIV status to the minor.
Conner and the teen also exchanged text messages containing nude photos and discussing their sexual activity, police said.
The teen eventually joined Conner’s dance team, the Infamous Dancerettes, but it wasn’t until several months after their first sexual encounter that the teen found out from someone else that Conner was HIV positive.
The teen then finally revealed the abuse to his parents and said he needed to go to the doctor to be tested, and the results came back that he was HIV positive.
Conner was arrested in September 2016 and charged with criminal exposure to HIV, statutory rape by an authority figure and solicitation of a minor. He pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2019.
According to reports, he also has two similar cases pending involving sexual partners who were 17 and 24.
John Conner III and his predominantly female dance team, the Infamous Dancerettes, appeared on the Lifetime series Bring It! He went by the name “Coach John” on the show and is also known by the names “Lil John” and “Jay John.”
