NY- Cops want to question a Manhattan restaurant owner after getting numerous tips that he’s the subway flasher caught in the act by camera phone, police sources said last night.
Nearly two dozen people have phoned the Daily News and the NYPD to say they believe Dan Hoyt, co-owner of raw-food eateries called Quintessence, is the man whose photo appeared on the cover of Saturday’s paper.
Investigators contacted Hoyt by phone and asked him to come in for an interview, NYPD sources said. No arrests have been made.
Hoyt did not return The News’ calls, and his business partner and ex-wife, Tolentin Chan, said, “It’s not proven yet.”
She said whoever the flasher is, he needs counseling.
“There should be a support center to support these men to find what is the cause of their action instead of …putting them in jail,” she said.
Hoyt and Chan co-own two restaurants, one on E. 10th St. in the East Village and the other on Amsterdam Ave., and are well known in the raw food movement, which calls for serving uncooked food.
The photo appeared in The News after Thao Nguyen, 22, used her cell phone to take a picture of a blond-haired man who exposed and fondled himself on an R train on Aug. 19.
Two other women who saw the picture – which also was posted on the Internet – have come forward to say they were flashed by the same man.
“When it did happen to me I was in shock,” said a 31-year-old Manhattan woman. “It’s a violation of my space and my sense of safety. It angered me he thought he could get away with it,” she said.
She said the man flashed her twice in the past six months, both times on the 1/9 line.
“I know that face and remember that creepy smile,” she said. “What a surprise to see his face on the front page of the Daily News. I am grateful for Ms. Nguyen’s quick thinking and hope this man gets caught.”
A 23-year-old student said the same man victimized her on the subway last Wednesday, and she now plans to file a complaint with cops.
“I just wanted to forget about the whole thing. I am glad someone had the wherewithal to do something about this,” she said.
The victims will be asked to look at photo lineups of the flasher. If anyone is arrested, the charge will be public lewdness, a misdemeanor.