LOS ANGELES—On October 11, UCLA's School of Public Health will be holding another one of its AIDS Healthcare Foundation-friendly panels on performer perspectives on health and safety in adult film productions, and word on the street is that HIV-positive former performer Derrick Burts—aka "Patient Zeta"—is scheduled to make an appearance, probably as a panelist.
Of course, Burts' appearance is probably contingent on the outcome of the court hearing he's scheduled to attend in Riverside County Superior Court in Murietta on September 29, to face arraignment on charges of burglary and embezzlement of over $400, both felonies, for which he was arrested on July 31—and perhaps that court will also take notice of the fact that Burts appears to be in violation of his three-year probation on his guilty plea to a charge of reckless driving. That probation was revoked by the Orange County Superior Court on August 31, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
There may be a Los Angeles County warrant on him as well, since he reportedly failed to show up in court in Van Nuys on July 6 to inform the court that he had complied with its order that he attend 52 weeks of classes after he pled guilty to a charge of disturbing the peace—a plea arising out of his having been arrested for domestic violence and misdemeanor-level assault in August, 2010.
But these are only the latest troubles that have come to light for Burts, who allegedly contracted HIV on the set of a gay condom-mandatory movie he shot in Florida—the last of several gay shoots in which he had appeared (as "Derek Chambers") since August of 2010. Some of those scenes included "Derek Chambers Foreskin Exam" for RealGuysExposed.com, "Horny Boy Fucks His Straight Roommate" for Gay Creeps, a bi threeway scene for ClubDean.com, "Wham Bam Thank You Man" for OutInPublic.com in early September, 2010, and a scene for Robert Chandler on October 6—three days past the expiration of Burts' most recent HIV test, which he'd taken at AIM on September 3. Photos have also surfaced of Burts being "gang-stripped" on stage by attendees at Micky's, a famous gay bar in West Hollywood, in late August of 2010—and of course, there's the now familiar Burts ad seeking gay sexual encounters on RentBoy.com.
Burts' learned of his possible HIV-positive status on October 9—a diagnosis that was confirmed about a week later after the results of his Western Blot and ELISA tests came back. However, though Burts later claimed to be distraught and depressed after learning of his status, he nonetheless shot a gay scene for Robert Chandler on November 14.
"I didn’t know Derrick was so torn up,” Chandler recalled. "I knew he was going through some tough stuff, and I thought doing the shoot with him would help. He said it would. And he seemed very enthusiastic doing the shoot and said he had a good time. I had no idea he felt so betrayed by the industry or that he was planning to go public."
It was shortly after that, that Burts was recruited by AIDS Healthcare, which reportedly agreed to pay his medical expenses for life, in return for which he would act as AHF's "industry spokesperson" and espouse AHF's condom-mandatory agenda. It was at this point that Burts also claimed to have been ill-treated by AIM personnel when he tried to get treatment for his condition.
Indeed, since joining up with AIDS Healthcare, Burts has rarely told the same story twice regarding the source of his infection, claiming at times that he may have contracted the disease through oral contact (since the scene itself was condom), or that he may have become infected by having rubbed a towel coated with infected semen to clean up after his scene.
AVN has acquired much more information on Burts' pre-porn life as well as more complete background on the polygraph test that agent Mark Spiegler asked Burts to take regarding his statements about his HIV-positive status and how he acquired it, but Spiegler and Burts were never able to come to an agreement as to which questions would be asked, and the exam was never given.
But after learning all of the above, the question has to be asked: Why would anyone believe anything Derrick Burts has to say about either his career in the adult entertainment industry or how he became HIV-positive?
Pictured: A composite of portions of Burts' RentBoy.com ad.
