Gay-porn twins charged in burglary

Taleon Goffney made a name for himself in two disparate professions - as a burglar who eluded police with amazing feats of athleticism, and as a gay-porn star appearing in online videos.

Even stranger, police said, he rose to prominence in both worlds alongside his twin brother, Keyontyli, a fashion model with a blossoming career.

The 25-year-olds from Pennsauken were arrested this month while breaking into a South Philadelphia beauty shop, authorities said. They were charged with burglary and a host of other crimes.

Taleon is being held in a Philadelphia jail, while Keyontyli is free after posting bail. A preliminary hearing is expected next month, authorities said.

The brothers are suspects in 45 burglaries - stretching across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware - in which intruders hacked through the rooftops of businesses.

An impromptu Roof Top Burglary Task Force of more than 30 law enforcement agencies was formed in January. On Feb. 19, members of the tristate task force said, they watched the twins break into Moon's Beauty Shop at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia.

They arrested Keyontyli at the scene. Taleon was nabbed a short time later at a Center City parking garage.

News of their arrests has burned up blogs devoted to the gay-porn industry, where the brothers were known as Teyon and Keyon, the twins who shared an infamous sex scene with porn superstar Marc Williams.

In that world, Keyontyli appears to have been the trailblazer; he has modeled and appeared in gay porn since at least 2002. Taleon got involved only recently.

But in burglary, Taleon has a far more impressive resume, including charges for rooftop burglaries in Alabama and Florida, and arrests in Philadelphia, Camden and Salem Counties.

Taleon, who police believe is a trained gymnast and karate expert, has earned comic-book nicknames for what authorities allege are his daring criminal exploits.

Clementon officers doing surveillance work admired Taleon's athletic ability in 2006 when they saw him running up the walls of an apartment building and doing backflips. Then they saw him make an open-air drug deal.

They arrested him, loaded him in a cruiser, and drove off.

"The officer heard a loud bang and saw Goffney jettison out the side rear window, head first," Clementon Police Chief Dave Kunkel said. "He landed on his face, but within seconds he was already on his feet and running. The officer hadn't even had time to put the car into park."

Taleon had broken out the glass with his head. He then jumped into a lake while still handcuffed.

"He was using flipper action with his feet. And when he got to the other side, he taunted the officers, saying, 'You'll never catch me,' " Kunkel said.

"I've seen people break out windows, but never in a moving vehicle and not with that amount of force," he said.

Taleon turned himself in to Camden County authorities a week later.

In January 2007, Taleon eluded Camden police by jumping 30 feet from the roof of a liquor store on Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

He got caught that time, but not before he swam across the frigid Cooper River.

Taleon pleaded guilty to the charges from Camden and Clementon. He faces sentencing in March and is eligible for a supervised-release program, his lawyer, Jeff Zucker, said yesterday.

"I told him he should have signed up for the Olympics," Zucker said. "The prosecutor and I even referred to him as Spider-Man."

Zucker said Taleon recently had resolved charges for rooftop burglaries in Alabama and Florida. Similar charges against him from Delaware and Salem County have been dismissed, he said.

"I don't know how many of these things I read about they can tie him to," he said.

In Salem County, Taleon was charged with a half-dozen burglaries totaling $210,000 in merchandise. He also faced an attempted-murder charge; authorities say he beat the elderly owner of the R&R Bar in Penns Grove during a burglary.

Taleon was arrested in Florida on the Salem County charges. Authorities warned Florida police about his escape in Clementon.

"They fell on him with the 82d Airborne," Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan said. "I think they even had a helicopter when they arrested the guy."

All the Salem County charges were dismissed when a codefendant who had agreed to testify against Taleon recanted, Lenahan said.

"We just want to keep this guy out of Salem County," he said.

It was not clear whether Keyontyli had had run-ins with the law before his South Philadelphia arrest, but he has no felony convictions in his native New Jersey.

In 2002, he reached out to Flavaworks, a company that produces gay adult entertainment, and began modeling on one of its Web sites.

"We hired him almost instantly," said Phillip Bleicher, president of Flavaworks.

Later, Keyontyli attended the Barbizon School of Modeling and began appearing in mainstream advertisements for clothing lines such as BOIISH and Nike.

"He seemed to be a very honest and sweet guy . . . which is why I think he started doing more mainstream work," Bleicher said.

He said he had last seen Keyontyli at a recent gay-pride parade in New York City.

While Keyontyli's porn experience seemed to have been well-known, Taleon's foray into the gay adult-entertainment industry surprised his lawyers.

"We called him Superman around here," said lawyer John Mininno, who previously represented Taleon. "He had a bunch of girlfriends."

Erik Schut is editorial director of Philadelphia-based www.tlavideo.com, which describes itself as the largest retailer of gay adult films in North America.

He said the Goffneys could have had a huge career in porn.

"They are incredibly good-looking, and being identical twins, it's a novelty," he said.

Schut said the news of the arrests had "blown up."

"When's the last time you saw identical twins in a gay adult film who are robbing places with Mission: Impossible stuff?" he asked. "And then one jumps out of a car window and his face still looks beautiful?"