A tale of two twins

KEYONTYLI GOFFNEY always thought of himself as a beautiful person - "inside and out."

"I could walk in a door and get people's attention. The way I speak, the way I walk, the way I photograph," he said. "I know how to present myself very well."

Keyontyli's outward beauty was never in question. His chiseled body, high cheekbones and exotic features have brought him dozens of legitimate modeling gigs over the last two years.

What's being questioned now - by bloggers and police officers alike - is his inner beauty, his moral compass and his loyalty to a twin brother who has led anything but a model life.

Twins Keyontyli and Taleon Goffney, 25, who once worked as gay porn actors, were arrested Feb. 19 in Philadelphia for allegedly breaking into area stores by cutting rooftop holes.

Taleon remains in prison. Keyontyli is free after posting more than $200,000 bail, but he is not free from media frenzy.

"I'm ducking everywhere I go," Keyontyli said in an exclusive interview from his Harlem apartment. "I didn't want this kind of infamy for myself or my family.

"I'm going to make some good out of this. My life's not going to end at 25."

Taleon had been the focus of a Rooftop Burglary Task Force, formed in January to investigate 45 area burglaries. Keyontyli said he served as a lookout for his brother, who was the "mastermind" of the operation, according to court testimony.

Bloggers went wild when news broke of the Goffney twins' arrests. The brothers, known online as Keyon and Teyon, had appeared in several hard-core Internet gay porn films together.

Keyontyli cringed because he said he'd put pornography behind him. In the last several years, he said, he proved to himself that he could work as a New York model.

"He had a bright future in the modeling industry. He had appointments with some of the largest clients I had in New York City." said Tara Graham, president of I.T.S. Models and Talent Management Company, which used to represent Keyontyli.

Pornography films never haunted his career. A criminal record could.

Growing up in Camden County, N.J., the twins were the oldest of five children born to Towana Goffney, who has been accused of being a lookout in the rooftop burglaries. She has not been charged. Keyontyli said he rarely saw his father.

After graduating from Edgewood Regional High School in Winslow Township in 2000, Keyontyli, then 19, said a recruiter approached him at a club in Philadelphia.

When the scout found out he had a twin, the two were flown to Atlanta to talk about a gig, he said.

But once they got there, they found out the "gig" was gay pornography, he said.

"We were laughing. We thought they were promising us modeling but they said that would come next," Keyontyli said. "That's how they pull in a lot of kids these days. We were already there and we thought 'How will we get home?' "

Xavier McDonald of BlackMen.net, the Internet site that posted some of their online videos, said that was unlikely.

"We go through sort of a checklist with guys because we're not going to buy a plane ticket and set up a shoot without everyone's understanding," McDonald said.

While Keyontyli is openly gay, he said his brother is straight.

But McDonald classified Taleon as bisexual, noting that he was surprised when he saw an Internet video of Taleon performing as the receptive partner during intercourse with another man.

"The next time we had conversations with him and shot him he sort of said to us he really didn't want his brother to know about that because he thought his brother would try to hook him up with guys," he said.

Both men had a hard time appearing in gay porn films together, and with other men, Keyontyli said.

"We laughed the whole time. They would give us stuff, like Viagra, to keep us hard," he said. "You'd get nervous so we'd drink a bit.

"I kind of felt, well, you didn't feel too good about yourself," he said.

Still, the twins earned twice as much as other gay porn actors and they were flown everywhere from Canada to Las Vegas to star in films, Keyontyli said.

He insists they only made a handful of porn films, nothing to give them porn-star status.

"We didn't have careers in the porn industry. It's not like we had a volume one through 25," he said. "I never wanted to feel like a second-class person, that's why I wanted to challenge myself.

"Basically, in the long run, we both gave up a lot of money to be something real."

McDonald agreed.

"They weren't guys that got into this and were doing five scenes a week. They did it as a supplemental thing," he said. "They were genuinely nice guys to work with. I was shocked to see all this (burglary) stuff. They would be the last two on earth I would have ever expected to be doing this thing."

McDonald said his company last contacted the brothers in 2007. But Keyontyli declined, saying he wasn't doing adult film work anymore.

Keyontyli always knew New York City was where he supposed to be. As a teenager in New Jersey, he used to take trains and buses into the city.

"It just seemed like New York City was the place where people made the world go 'round," he said.

Keyontyli moved to the city when he was 20, and at one point, lived in his car before landing jobs as a model and bartender, he said.

In the last few years, Keyontyli modeled for DKNY, BOIISH and Gold Spun denim. His image has appeared in magazines, Web sites and on billboards, and he's appeared on "Saturday Night Live," "Law & Order: Conviction" and the "Today" show.

"That's one person you look at and say 'Wow, he had everything in front of him,' " said Graham, who used to represent Keyontyli. "Every door would have been opened to him because of his look and his energy."

Meanwhile, his brother, Taleon, built a criminal record. He spent several years in prison for robbery, according to court records and his brother. He also escaped a moving police car while handcuffed and jumped 30 feet from the roof of a building to elude capture.

"I would tell him (Taleon) that when people Google me they find my modeling stuff, when people Google you, all they find is crime," Keyontyli said.

Still, Keyontyli hates the "good-twin-bad-twin" label people try to place on them.

Keyontyli said his brother is "not an evil" person, but a talented artist who planned to start truck-driving school.

"Twins never want to be a good and an evil one. They want to be their own person with their own separate lives," he said. "I never blamed my brother or hated him for what he'd done. He was always an oddball, a tough guy, but he's a sweetheart."

Keyontyli believes police don't have any "solid evidence" against him and his brother for the rooftop burglaries. He said authorities hold a "grudge" against his brother because he "embarrassed" them with his previous escapes. He also believes a friend is "backstabbing" them.

"I cooperated with them [police] and didn't give them a hard time because I'm no crazy super villain," Keyontyli said. "This is a twin Salem witch hunt.

"I'm just not a regular street person. There's something unique about me," he said. "Not just because I'm a part of this case. I was a big deal, always."

Keyontyli said he now thinks about how he will move on. He's still sending out his resume, working for a party and promotions company and "doing my best for damage control."

"I want to own property, have a kid, do something normal," he said.

"And strive to be decent." *