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Hunt perv caught in a flash By TRACY CONNOR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, August 26th, 2005 When a pervert exposed himself on a Manhattan subway last week, Thao Nguyen reached for her secret weapon - her camera phone. The quick-thinking 22-year-old snapped a shot of the smirking sicko, took it to cops and then posted it on the Internet. 
Word of her campaign to nail the flasher raced through cyberspace, and more than 45,000 people had viewed the photographic evidence by last night. "I just hope they catch him," Nguyen told the Daily News. "Maybe someone will recognize him. Maybe it will stop other people from doing it," she said. "Maybe other women will use their camera phones to stop crime." Nguyen's transformation from quiet Web developer to feisty crimefighter happened on an uptown R train the afternoon of Aug. 19. She was on her way back to work after a job interview when a middle-aged, blond-haired man dressed in a black shirt and jeans sat down across from her. "He kept staring at me," she said. "I could feel his eyes on me. I wanted to avoid eye contact so I looked away, but I could see his reflection in the window. "I saw him massaging himself and then he unzipped and pulled it out. I thought, 'I can't believe he's doing this in the middle of the day!' " The subway car was mostly empty and Nguyen felt nervous, so she pulled out her Samsung P777 cell phone, equipped with a 1.3 megapixel digital phone. "I turned on the camera," she said. "He was still masturbating. I aimed it and quickly took the shot. As soon as I took it, he zipped up and got off the train." Nguyen said she was disgusted by the incident and immediately reported it to a police officer at the 34th St. station. The next day she filled out an official complaint, and the following day a detective had her look at hundreds of photos of ex-cons. None of them was the culprit, but Nguyen wasn't about to give up. She posted the degenerate's photo on the Web sites Flickr and Craigslist, and bloggers began linking to her site. Her photo and story drew a few juvenile snickers, but most of the comments have been positive. One Netizen wrote: "You go, girl!" Another commented, "I hope his mom sees it." The NYPD, which confirmed Nguyen had filed a complaint, also was impressed. "It's great she took the picture; it'll help with the investigation," said NYPD Detective Kevin Czartoryski, who warned that a woman should be careful if the flasher sees her taking the picture. "If it can be done in a safe manner, it'd be helpful to locate the suspect," said Czartoryski, a NYPD spokesman. "Common sense should be used when deciding if a picture can be taken." Nguyen isn't the first straphanger to use her cell phone to catch a criminal. In May, two Catholic schoolgirls took a photo of a man en flagrante on the F train and showed it to a cop, who nabbed the pervert. Nguyen said even if her tormentor isn't caught - and charged with public lewdness, a misdemeanor that carries up to three months in jail - she's glad she took action. "He made me feel creepy," she said. "I want to embarrass him." If you recognize the man in the picture, call the Daily News at (212) 210-1574 and let us know. -Source: http://www.nydailynews.co...1030c.html | |
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UPDATE:
Subway flasher in '94 rap? BY TRACY CONNOR and ALISON GENDAR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 A subway flasher caught in the act on a cell phone camera may have been arrested in 1994 for exposing himself at one of the same subway platforms he hit recently, sources told the Daily News. Six victims in addition to the cell phone user have told police they were flashed by the man whose photo appeared on the front page of Saturday's Daily News. And a dozen tipsters said they believe the suspect is Dan Hoyt, co-owner of raw-food restaurants called Quintessence. 
Hoyt, 43, was arrested in 1994 and charged with public lewdness after he unzipped and flashed a victim at what was then the N platform at Manhattan's Eighth St. subway station, sources said. He eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to two days of community service. Hoyt reneged yesterday on a promise to come in and talk to cops, so police were on the hunt for the wayward restaurateur. Hoyt's alleged victims were shocked to hear he had been targeting the same subway station for more than a decade. Four of the seven women who told The News they were flashed said it happened at the Eighth St. station. "I felt violated, and I kept walking because I just wanted not to be underground with him," said a 29-year-old restaurant owner who said both she and her younger sister were targeted at the Eighth St. station in the past six months. A sandy-haired man had followed her, asked for directions to Brooklyn and then started masturbating, she said. A law student working in the city this summer said she suffered the same indignity when a man approached her in the Eighth St. station. As he fumbled with a map, he started masturbating. "I recognized him instantly. No doubt. His image is burned in my memory forever," the law student said when she saw the photo in the Daily News. All of the alleged victims credited Thao Nguyen, who was quick-thinking enough to snap a picture with her cell phone when the man flashed her on the uptown R train Aug. 19. "I'm so glad that woman took the picture," the law student said. "I wouldn't even have thought of it." | |
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