Police Ask Victims Who May Have Been Lured After Beer Pong Bouts to Come Forward

Montgomery County police said Tuesday they are investigating what they believe could be a series of rapes of young males lured from social events such as beer pong tournaments.

“In January, I’ll have been a cop 30 years," said Assistant Chief Russell Hamill at a news conference. “I’ve never seen anything like this."

The investigation came after Joey Poindexter, 38, a real estate appraiser, was charged last month with a second-degree sex offense.

In early October, a college student told a patrol officer in Silver Spring that he met a man at a beer pong tournament at Looney’s Pub in College Park, MD, and was taken to a residence in Gaithersburg. 

Hamill said they had “un-consensual forced sex.” 

The student went to police the next day and Poindexter was charged a week later. He is being held on bond.

Police said two others with similar stories have come forward since the College Park incident. No charges have been filed related to those cases. 

“It appears our victims become highly intoxicated—or possibly drugged, we are investigating that—and then he takes advantage of them,” Hamill said. “From the digital images they downloaded, young men [are] in various states of intoxication [and] have trouble defending themselves.”

The men were later driven home, Detective David Marshall said.

Police said the investigation turned up a similar allegation made 10 years ago but it was halted, Hamill said.

"We believe Mr. Poindexter has been targeting young men for approximately 10 years," Hamill said. "We have a case reported to us approximately 10 years ago where the investigation was halted at the request of the victim, I believe. We’ve not had any further contacts or reports of our suspect since that time."

Police said they are hoping more victims will come forward. Police have contacted law enforcement in Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlantic City, Salt Lake City and Virginia Beach—locations they claim Poindexter visited to attend beer pong, BMX and skateboarding events.

“I want to commend this young man for his courage,” Hamill said of the alleged victim who reported the recent incident to police. “I want to encourage other victims to sum up that same courage as he has to come forward and stop this predator from preying on other individuals just like you were preyed upon.”