Homeless ‘jogger rapist’ denied bail
The accused serial sex predator nabbed for raping a woman in the West Village was ordered held without bail Friday — as prosecutors and sources said his latest victim is a tourist who was choked so hard that several bones broke in her neck.
Suspected fiend Carl Phanor — who police sources say has a “scales of justice” tattoo on his left hand — swayed and said nothing at his court arraignment as prosecutors detailed the “clear predatory pattern” he used in Thursday’s attack and two others in the past nine months in Manhattan.
“In each case, the defendant targeted women in areas that, in the very early mornings, are desolate, with minimal surveillance,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Lauren Breen said during the hearing.
“The defendant demonstrated a clear predatory pattern. He chose unpopulated areas, he targeted women who were either walking or jogging home, he attacked each of them from behind, choked them and sexually assaulted each of the three victims.”
On Thursday, a 43-year-old tourist, possibly from Illinois, was out for a run on Pier 45 near West and Christopher streets around 5:45 a.m. when Phanor, 29, grabbed her from behind, according to authorities and law-enforcement sources.
He allegedly threw her to the ground and choked her until she was unconscious. The sicko then pulled off her running shoes, workout pants and underwear and raped her before stealing her cellphone, debit card, hotel key card and ID and taking off on a Citi Bike, authorities said.
“The victim from yesterday currently remains in the ICU receiving treatment for several bone fractures, and she was choked to the point of losing consciousness,” Breen told the judge.
A good Samaritan called 911 after spotting the woman shoeless and dazed, and cops arrived to find the victim’s face bruised and blood on her arms, fingernails and fingers, prosecutors said.
After the attack, Phanor went to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and tried to buy a Greyhound bus ticket with the victim’s credit card, authorities said.
But eagle-eyed Port Authority cops — who by this point had an alert issued by the NYPD with his photo for them to be on the lookout — took him into custody, sources said.
When he was arrested, Phanor was in the same outfit he wore while raping his victim and had the woman’s wallet and other possessions on him, prosecutors said.
The suspected serial sex assaulter had previously been arrested in 2019 in New Jersey — a bust that helped crack his Manhattan cases, police sources said.
His DNA went on file after he was charged with aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault in Newark in January 2019, police sources said. The disposition of the case is unclear, but cops were able to use the DNA sample to link him to his first known attack in the Big Apple on March 27 at 6 a.m., prosecutors said.
In that case, a 39-year-old woman was on the running path near Pier 46 in Manhattan when Phanor, who was on a bike, allegedly tackled her to the ground, choked her and pinned her down as he screamed and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
When the victim was later taken to the hospital, cops were able to secure DNA evidence from the woman’s neck and match it to the DNA from the Jersey assault.
Cops then released Phanor’s name and photo to the media in a desperate attempt to find him, but while still on the lam Oct. 6 he struck again in Manhattan, this time on the FDR service road near East 37th Street, authorities said.
A woman was walking along the road when Phanor came up behind her, placed her in a chokehold and ripped her jeans open, prosecutors said. When the woman screamed for help, Phanor ran off, but not before swiping the woman’s cellphone and credit card, which he used at a nearby smoke shop about a halfhour later, authorities said.
“The defendant sexually assaulted three women in the early morning hours in public places for the past nine months,” Breen said as she asked Judge Jonathan Svetkey to remand Phanor on a slew of charges, including firstdegree rape, predatory sexual assault and strangulation.
Phanor’s lawyer asked for bail and said his client has “nowhere to live” and “no income.”