BY THE VILLAGE SUN | A bike-riding sex fiend who preys on women when they are alone on Manhattan’s isolated edges in the early-morning hours has struck again, according to police.
Police are still trying to track down a man who sexually assaulted and robbed a female jogger on the Hudson River greenway back in March. Now they are linking the same suspect to a similar sexual assault and robbery, this time across town near the East River.
In both incidents, the attacker was astride a bike, the assault was in the early morning and was on the periphery of Manhattan, near the waterfront.
Police have identified the suspect as Carl Phanor, 28, who stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs around 130 pounds.
In the latest incident, police said that on Thurs., Oct. 6, around 5 a.m., a 48-year-old woman was walking northbound on the F.D.R. Drive service road and approaching E. 37th Street when a man approached her from behind and placed her in a chokehold.
The attacker tried to rape the woman, ripping her pants in the process. But the victim was able to fight the man off — though not before he was able to wrest away her wallet and cell phone. The creep fled the location on a bicycle heading toward the F.D.R. Drive. The victim refused medical attention at the scene.
Around 30 minutes after the sexual assault in the Kips Bay area, the suspect had biked to the East Village, where he reportedly tried to use the victim’s stolen credit card to buy something at a smoke shop at 113 First Ave., at Seventh Street.
Police released a surveillance photo of the wanted man taken from the smoke shop.
Back in this spring, cops say that the same man, again riding a bike, attacked a 39-year-old female jogger as she was running northbound past Pier 40, near W. Houston Street, on Sun., March 27, at 6:10 a.m.
The pervert pushed the woman to the ground and began to choke her, forcing her to perform oral sex and stealing her cell phone before pedaling off. E.M.S. transported the victim, who suffered bruising and pain, to a hospital for evaluation.
Police released surveillance video of the suspect taken from the vicinity of West Street and Charles Lane before the March incident.
Police previously gave Phanor’s address as 90 Lafayette St., the Bowery Mission Tribeca Campus Shelter. However, that may have only been his last known address. In June, a spokesperson for The Bowery Mission told The Village Sun, “Our records show that the gentleman in question stayed with us for one night in January 2016 under a slightly different name.”
Police ask that anyone with information call the N.Y.P.D.’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers Web site at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on Twitter at @NYPDTips. Tips can result in cash rewards. All tips are strictly confidential.
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