John Cranmer, 31, a man incarcerated in Missouri who hashepatitis C, is facing a felony charge for knowingly endangering a jailemployee after he allegedly smeared his feces all over his cell, according to areport in the Branson Tri-Lakes News.

Already in jail and facing several other felony charges, Cranmer refused ordersto clean up his cell. “The jail staff did have to remove Cranmer from his celland send in an officer to clean,” according to theprobable cause statement. “This action placed the officer in direct contactwith hepatitis C.”

According to a felony complaint from Anthony Brown, assistant Taney Countyprosecuting attorney, Cranmer committed a class C felony when he “knowinglycaused a corrections employee to come into contact with feces…knowing he wasinfected with hepatitis C.”

Although hepatitis A is often spread through minuteamounts of fecal matter, hepatitis C is spread through blood-to-blood contact,most often through needles or blood transfusions.

To read the Branson Tri-Lakes News article, click here.