Investigations: Uncle Ed's Ugly Secret

To the teenage boys who visited his apartment near Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square, Ed Savitz was an easy client who paid $15 for oral sex and had a fetish for soiled underwear and socks. Health and law-enforcement officials fear that Savitz was also a walking AIDS time bomb. The 50-year-old actuary, who was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of children last month, has admitted that he has had AIDS for one year.

AIDS information hot lines in the area quickly received calls from frightened boys who had engaged in unprotected sex with the man they knew as "Uncle Ed." Some of the boys reported that they subsequently had sex with both male and female partners.

Savitz's arrest followed a six-month investigation by the city's sex-crime unit. By early March investigators had gathered enough evidence to install a wiretap and hidden videocamera in his home. On March 25, detectives watched as Savitz offered to pay two 15-year-old boys for oral sex. Police burst into the apartment and took Savitz into custody.