Pennsylvania - A family did not realise they had an unexpected Christmas guest until a man who had been in their attic for days emerged wearing their clothes, police said.
Stanley Carter surrendered last Friday after police took a dog to search their home 160km north of Philadelphia.
He was charged with several counts of burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespassing.
"From what I gather, he was helping himself to my home, eating my food and stealing my clothes," home-owner Stacy Ferrance said.
Police said the 21-year-old Carter had been staying with friends, who are Ferrance's neighbours in a duplex. He apparently accessed the shared attic through a trap door in a bedroom ceiling.
Carter went missing on December 19 and Ferrance notified police on Christmas Day when cash, a laptop computer and an iPod disappeared, and she found footprints in her bedroom closet.
Carter kept a list of everything he took, under the title "Stanley's Christmas List", police said. He will appear in court on January 5. - Sapa-AP