The man accused of raping at least five women inside a vacant apartment was arrested Thursday after eluding capture for more than a week.
Joseph Tyler Sivonda, 23, was arrested at a Duluth apartment by a team of Gwinnett County police detectives, sheriff’s deputies and U.S. Marshals, Cpl. Jake Smith with Gwinnett police said. Sivonda faces rape, aggravated sodomy and armed robbery charges, according to police.
Investigators believe Sivonda had been staying with 30-year-old Tiffany Rene Martin, who was also arrested for hindering the apprehension of a criminal, Smith said. Both Sivonda and Martin were booked into the Gwinnett County jail. Sivonda was denied bond and Martin’s bond was set at $2,400, jail records show.
Sivonda, a convicted felon, is accused of hiring female escorts online and arranging to meet them at the Bradford Apartments off Beaver Ruin Road, where investigators believe he also lived. When the women arrived, Sivonda is accused of pulling out a large handgun and forcing the women into a vacant unit at the complex, where he then sexually assaulted them, police previously said.
Five victims have reported similar crimes allegedly involving Sivonda, and investigators believe there could be additional victims, Smith said. On May 2, a SWAT team searched the complex, but was unable to locate Sivonda.
Sivonda was released from prison in November, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He spent three years and nine months in Dooly State Prison following a burglary conviction, records show.
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