Police responded to the Pentagon City mall on Thursday for a report of an “obscene sexual display” in a restroom.
The security manager of a department store called police around 11:30 a.m. after finding a man masturbating in the middle of the store’s third floor bathroom. The suspect, described as a 5’9″ black male in his late 20s, was peering at another man in a bathroom stall while masturbating, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. A third man was also present in the bathroom during the incident, watching the other two. The men had deliberately met up in the bathroom for sexual purposes, Sternbeck said.
The suspects all fled the scene before police arrived.
While Sternbeck was unable to confirm the identity of the store involved, a “cruising” website for men seeking sexual encounters contains a listing for the third floor bathroom of the Macy’s store in Pentagon City.
“There were guys interested… quite a few hot men, especially blacks and Latinos,” said a review of the bathroom posted to the website in December. The bathroom is the only cruising spot in Arlington with an overall “five star” review on the website.
Other Arlington-area cruising spots listed on various websites include:
- Gold’s Gym in Rosslyn (“One of northern Virginia’s cruisiest gyms… there is always something going on in the sauna.”)
- Sport & Health Club in Crystal City (“Might not always be the prettiest, but some days you get lucky.”)
- National SeaBee Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (“Heads up… there was an unmarked car parked on 110… with binoculars looking into the woods, trying to catch people.”)
- Columbia Pike between Jefferson Street and Columbus Street (“Had a hot Latino drive slowly by, and when I caught his eye he turned around and came back into a side street.”)
- Columbia Island marina parking lot (“The area is VERY cruisy, but a little discretion is advised. The safest area is the northern end of the parking lot.”)
- Arlington Central Library (“Cruisy toilet in the outside rear of the library… Guys in suits and nearby office workers frequent this place during lunchtime.”)
File photo