Queensland Police is seeking to extradite a 27-year-old man from New South Wales in relation to two incidents where teenage girls were allegedly grabbed, forcing both to flee for help.
Police allege that at about 12:35am on Tuesday, a 17-year-old Tweed Heads girl walked off a bus on the Gold Coast Highway in Palm Beach when a white hatchback stopped beside her and the male driver offered her a lift.
She hopped in the passenger seat before the man allegedly drove "erratically" around the backstreets of Burleigh for about an hour and touched the girl's thighs.
The girl managed to jump from the car and hid in nearby bushes.
Police allege the man left the car and searched for the girl, before driving away.
It is also alleged that just after 5:00am the same day, a 17-year-old girl was jogging at the Tarraborra Reserve when a man signalled her to stop near the popular Pirate Park at Palm Beach.
The man allegedly asked her for directions before grabbing her around the waist and then again from behind.
The girl pushed the man away and fled south before raising the alarm with a passer-by who called the police.
Neither girl was physically harmed.
A Mount Druitt man appeared at Ballina Magistrates Court this morning on the NSW North Coast.
He remains in custody as Queensland Police wait to extradite him.
'There may be others'
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Aubort is calling for information relating to the man or the car between midnight Monday and 11:00am Tuesday.
CCTV footage of a white hatchback filmed in the southern Gold Coast area during the incidents has been released.
A white hatchback hire car, registered in NSW, has been seized by NSW Police and will be forensically investigated.
"Eleven hours, two victims, are there more?" he said.
"I don't have the answer to that and this is the point of the appeal [for information]."
The man is described as Caucasian, overweight, about 165 centimetres tall with a round face and wearing a black hoodie.
"Anyone else in the community who has been offended against, or any witnesses who can assist us with inquiries, we'd ask them to come forward," Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Aubort said.
"We know of two incidents, there may be more."
Detective Senior Sergeant Aubort says the case is about people being able to "live their lives freely".
"This is about our ability to lead normal lives," he said.
