Don’t get mad, get even. So decided a pissed-off Lewisburg, Tennessee, divorcée and widow who was infected with HIV by a former boyfriend three years ago. Pamela Denise Wiser, 29, spent the past year bedding bar pick-ups with the intent to infect: “When I found out I had HIV, an anger started building inside of me and I decided I was going to get revenge.”  

Lewisburg police got Wiser last July when a call came from one of the lady’s lays who got tested for HIV after their romp (his status wasn’t revealed). That led to a criminal investigation resulting in charges against Wiser on two counts of criminal exposure of sex partners to HIV. Unable to cough up $50,000 for bail, she took up residence in the Marshall County jail, where she first reported she had bopped 50 guys; a day later she said it was only five. “I got my revenge. I feel bad for what I’ve done,” she said. “I am so depressed that I just sit and cry.”

Beleaguered Lewisburg police chief Michael Hunter said he fielded 75 calls from potential Wiser bed-pawns within 24 hours of alerting the town (pop. 9,900). Wiser said she told her one-nighters to wear condoms because she had HIV, but “some still didn’t believe me and some still didn’t care.” The manager at the Lewisburg Economy Inn, where she mated each week, said he warned the men about her, but to no avail. Wiser’s attorney, public defender John Diggee, wasn’t available for comment. Police refuse to say if any of the men have tested positive.

The case, pending Wiser’s psychiatric evaluation, is expected to go to trial this fall. While it is unclear how many men she pumped to punish, the CDC reports that it is eight times more difficult for a woman to transmit HIV to a man than vice-versa. “The risk of heterosexually transmitted AIDS among men has been vastly exaggerated,” said Dr. Joseph Sonnabend. “It is unlikely that this woman infected up to 50 men. It’s like setting out to shoot many people but the ammunition turns out to be faulty.”