NEW CASTLE, Ind. (AP) – A central Indiana man infected with hepatitis C has been sentenced to three years in prison for spitting blood into a police officer's face.

Anthony James Hopkins had pleaded guilty to battery by body waste. A Henry Circuit Court judge sentenced Hopkins last week to six years in prison with three years suspended.

Prosecutors say the 27-year-old spit into the face of an officer last April after police were called to a domestic disturbance at his New Castle home.

The Star Press reports that after Hopkins spat in the officer's face he told him he hoped he developed hepatitis C and gives it “to your wife and kids.”

The blood-borne disease can cause life-threatening liver ailments.