A raw food restaurant owner who was caught on camera exposing himself to several women on the subway in 2005 is back to his old tricks — and the victim who famously photographed him more than a decade ago is not the least bit surprised.
Dan Hoyt, 53, owner and head chef of East Village eatery, Quintessence, was arrested again this week for pleasuring himself in front of two women on multiple occasions at a Greenwich Village subway station earlier this month, according to police.
“The only way he is going to stop is if he gets fixed,” said Thao Nguyen, who made headlines in 2005 when she posted a picture online of Hoyt masturbating aboard the R train.
“I don’t think he’s going to admit it, but it’s obvious he has a problem,” she told The Post. “It’s been 11 years and he’s still doing this. He’s done it so many times, and these are just the ones we know about. I’m sure there are many more. I’m just afraid it might escalate to something else. Instead of just exposing himself to women, he may move on to something more serious. Like groping them or raping them.”
In the most recent incident on Tuesday, Hoyt spotted a 25-year-old woman standing on the platform of the 8th Street station around 12:20 p.m. and asked, “Can I masturbate to you?”
When the woman told him no, Hoyt dropped his pants and started masturbating anyway.
The woman called 911 and Hoyt was captured by transit cops a short time later.
After conferring with cops from the department’s special victim’s unit, investigators learned Hoyt was responsible for two similar incidents in which he pleasured himself in front of the same woman two days in a row beginning New Year’s Day.
In the first incident, he exposed himself to a 24-year-old woman around 8 p.m. before running away.
The next day he followed the same woman onto the train where he removed his pants and began masturbating next to her.
Hoyt was charged with several counts of public lewdness, harassment and resisting arrest.
“I’m not surprised,” said Nguyen, when told of his charges.
“I just don’t think more jail time will help him,” she explained. “He’s just going to go through the motions of treatment like he did last time. If he does do time, I hope the judge isn’t lenient on him. He should be behind bars indefinitely.”
Hoyt had been arrested back in 2005 for exposing himself to Nguyen and at least five other women at the 59tth Street – Columbus Circle subway station. He initially came under cops’ radar after the web designer began circulating the cell phone pic online.