Kriti Mehrotra
Lifetime’s ‘Phrogging: Hider in My House’ is a true-crime series we can only describe as equal parts fascinating and skin-crawling owing to the fact it covers a specific kind of stranger danger. In other words, with the help of first-hand accounts of lucky survivors, it delves into those matters wherein a person chose to secretly live inside someone else’s home for their own selfish intents. Thus, of course, its episode 3, ‘Living Among Us,’ is no different — and now, if you wish to learn more about the Ferrance family home’s squatter Stanley Carter, we’ve got the details for you.
Who is Stanley Carter?
At the age of 21, in December 2008, Stanley Carter of Trumann, Arkansas, was residing with friends in suburban Plains Township in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, before things changed for the worst. His hosts had reportedly asked him to move out sometime mid-month, driving him to access the attic they shared with neighbor Stacy Ferrance through a trap door and settle there for around a week. However, since he’d seemingly left without informing anybody, his friends filed an official missing person’s report with the local authorities two days later — on December 21, 2008.
By that point, though, Stanley had allegedly already begun stealing from Stacy and her three children, only to escalate the kind of valuable items he took possession of as the days passed by. He not only pinched food, cash, and clothes from the Ferrance’s but also lifted their Christmas gifts, an iPod nano, as well as a laptop, hitting them twice on the holiday itself, per reports. The latter actually became the youngster’s downfall since he inadvertently left a dirty footprint behind, causing Stacy to catch on to the entire phrogging situation and instantly contact the police.
Stanley surrendered the same day (December 26) after the officials arrived with a search dog, yet the most shocking part is that he was in his victims’ clothes when he came down from the attic. As if that’s not enough, a search of the space yielded every belonging he’d swiped from the residence, a note labeled Stanley’s Christmas List itemizing the same, and even e-mails he’d written on the stolen laptop. One of the latter read, in part, “I don’t want to go back to jail… I’d rather be wanted,” suggesting he possibly has a notable criminal record, but it remains unclear what for.
Where is Stanley Carter Now?
Stanley was arraigned on several counts of burglary, receiving stolen property, theft, and criminal trespassing on the late evening of December 26, 2008, with his bond being set at $25,000. He was then ordered to return to the Luzerne County Prison in Wilkes-Barre, and his preliminary hearing was scheduled for January 5, but he soon waived his right for the latter.
In early January 2009, Stanley’s defense attorney said he was “very sorry and upset [about what] happened. He was very peaceful up there and kept to himself.” Nevertheless, it’s unfortunately unclear precisely how the legal matters proceeded. All we know is that the now mid-30-year-old doesn’t seem to be incarcerated anywhere at the moment. From what we can tell, although we can’t be too sure, Stanley currently appears to keep his distance from both the limelight as well as the wrong side of the law.
