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Who is Carl Phanor? Homeless man with 25 prior arrests chokes and rapes NYC jogger before robbing her

The victim was running in the park near Pier 45 when the suspect, Carl Phanor,  29, grabbed her from behind and choked her until she passed out

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: A man has been taken into custody and booked after he attacked a woman and raped her when she was out jogging in Manhattan's Hudson River Park on Thursday, November 3. Police said the 43-year-old victim was running in the park near Pier 45 around 5:30 am when the suspect, Carl Phanor, 29, grabbed her from behind and choked her until she passed out.

Phanor was busted at the Port Authority bus station hours after the assault. He has been accused of choking and sexually assaulting her before robbing her, according to a witness who called 911. The victim was left without shoes and with blood running from her face and elbows, New York Post reported. A fellow jogger spotted the victim, and she was taken to a nearby hospital. Phanor was charged with rape, grand larceny, predatory sexual assault and invalid use of a credit card. He was also slapped with charges in two previous attacks on women, one from March and the other from October. 

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Who is Carl Phanor?

Before his sex-crime arrests, Phanor, who had been living at a Manhattan homeless shelter recently, had been busted at least 25 other times for crimes including petit larceny, assault, drug possession and drug dealing. Seven of these arrests were sealed. He was tracked down by police after he used stolen credit cards at a Target in Midtown to buy $39 worth of Red Bull energy drinks. he also tried to buy a bus ticket at the Port Authority, sources said. 

Phanor allegedly attacked a woman who was out running near West and Clarkson streets on March 27. He approached the woman while she was jogging on Pier 40 around 6 am, pushed her down, choked her and sexually assaulted her. He then swiped her cell phone and took off. He also attacked a 48-year-old woman walking on the FDR Drive service road near East 37th Street around 5 am on October 6, placing her in a chokehold and trying to rape her. However, the woman fought him off. He managed to steal her cell phone and wallet, and even used her redit cards to buy something at a smoke shop on First Avenue. 

Gabrielle Sumkin, 23, who was out for a run when she came across the victim on Thursday in the latest attack, said, "She was in workout clothes but they were kind of torn up, they were dirty, she wasn’t wearing any shoes, she was just wearing one sock. Sumkin then called 911. “This woman seemed like she was legitimately very hurt and it was clear that something had happened to her,” the Greenwich Village resident said. “She was just kind of saying ‘I need help, I need help.’”

Following the latest attack, Phanor was charged with sexually-motivated robbery, strangulation, predatory sexual assault and criminal sex act in the March case. In the October case, he was hit with charges of robbery and grand larceny. All of the attacks were similar and showed that the suspect followed a particular pattern of behavior.

Among the 25 crimes he was busted for, the most recent was in Manhattan where he was accused of stealing a box of KIND granola bars from a Midtown Walgreens in December 2019. In that case, he was sentenced to time. Before that, he was arrested for drug possession and possession of burglary tools in 2019. He reportedly pleaded guilty at his arraignment on the condition he completed a program, court records revealed. However, he failed to show up on mandatory compliance dates, prompting two bench warrants to be issued in his name in January 2020. 

New York gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin has now slammed Governor Kathy Hochul for the latest attack. "In Kathy Hochul’s New York, law-abiding New Yorkers are forced to live in fear. Come January, in Lee Zeldin’s New York, criminals will be the ones forced to live in fear. Election Day is 5 days away. It’s time to take our streets back!" he tweeted.