Charlotte-Mecklenburg police today arrested and charged 20-year-old Phillip Gregory Payton with two of the three sexual assaults reported this year at the Yorktown Garden Apartments in south Charlotte.
Investigators said DNA linked Payton to a February attack and another in September. Authorities were still testing DNA collected at the scene of a third assault that happened Monday.
Police said they were confident that DNA would link Payton to the third attack as well.
Investigators said Payton lived in the Yorktown apartments and worked nearby. He was charged with one count of second-degree rape, one count of second-degree sex offense, two counts of kidnapping, 1 count of assault on a female and two counts of first-degree burglary.
More charges are pending, police said.
Investigators said Payton had no local criminal record. They declined to say how they obtained his DNA.
Three women at the Yorktown apartments near South Boulevard and Tyvola Road have reported being raped this year inside their units. In each case, the suspect entered the victims’ apartments through a sliding door.
The suspect was describe as being a black man approximately 25 years old. He was said to be tall with a slim build and wore a black ski mask, gloves, black shirt and black pants.
On Tuesday, about a dozen police officers went door-to-door at the Yorktown apartments warning residents to call police if they saw an unfamiliar men in the area. Police on Monday declined to say what led them to suspect Payton.
