A man is accused of sexually assaulting two women — one of whom he met through an online classified advertisement — at gunpoint in his Arlington apartment building.
McKinley C. Joyner, 33, is charged with making an escort he hired using the online ad site Backpage.com and her friend perform sexual acts at gunpoint.
His arrest comes amid heavy criticism of adult-services ads on sites like Backpage and Craigslist.
In August, a D.C. man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a women he met through Craigslist. A Boston man was accused in 2009 of killing a woman he met on the site, which shut down its adult-services section this September. And since then, law enforcement and advocates have been pressuring Backpage to do the same.
Arlington County police said Joyner forced a female escort to perform sex acts at gunpoint when she arrived Thursday morning at his apartment, the Archstone Crystal Plaza on the 2100 block of Jefferson Davis Highway.
The escort’s friend was waiting in the building’s lobby and went to Joyner’s apartment when she could not contact her friend. Joyner then allegedly made her perform sex acts at gunpoint.
Both women were in their early 20s, said Detective Crystal Nosal, an Arlington County police spokeswoman. She said neither suffered injuries that required medical treatment.
Joyner has been charged with two counts of forcible sodomy.
He was a founding partner at Blazetrak, a Web-based company that says it connects talent with insiders in entertainment, music, sports and other industries, according to a company press kit. His photograph and biography were removed from Blazetrak’s Web site on Friday, and the company and its public relations agency did not respond to requests for comment.
Joyner is being held without bond at the Arlington County Detention Center. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 9.
His attorney, Harry Dennis, did not return a call for comment.
Craigslist dropped its adult-services section after pressure from attorneys general, who said the site was a hub for prostitution and sex trafficking.
Backpage recently said it would suspend some parts of its personals and adult-services sections, and would monitor the content more closely.
In September, 21 attorneys general, including Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia and Douglas Gansler of Maryland, signed a letter to Backpage, asking it take down its adult-services listings.
Arlington County police ask that any other women who might have been victims of Joyner contact Detective Angela Comer at 703-228-4243 or [email protected].
