Police: Craigslist Rapist Has HIV

DECATUR, Ga. -- DeKalb County police have charged an 18-year-old man with raping two women they say he lured off the popular website Craigslist.

Detectives say Allen Jamar McDowell of Decatur convinced two women on separate occasions to meet him at an apartment off Kensington Road. The apartment was vacant, but McDowell allegedly gained access and held the women captive while he sexually assaulted them.

Both cases weren't initially linked together and, in fact, police didn't name McDowell as the suspect until recently.

"Our officers have been able to determine there was an incident in March and a second one in April. In both cases those victims did come forward to detectives and notify them of the sexual assaults, but it wasn't until an anonymous tip came in to Crimestoppers that our detectives were able to link this particular suspect with these two sexual assaults," said Mekka Parish, Public Information Officer for the Dekalb County Police Department.

McDowell faces a laundry list of charges including kidnapping, rape and reckless conduct for knowingly exposing someone to HIV. What police say they don't know is how long McDowell may have been soliciting women on the internet and if there are other victims out there who have not yet come forward.

"You never know how many women he may have actually reached out to," said Parish.