13th Beach: Police are seeking this man.
ERIN PEARSON
An influx of holiday-makers over Easter could prove irresistible to flashers stalking beaches on the Bellarine Peninsula and Surf Coast, police have warned.
Police this week released images of two men wanted for questioning over flashing incidents at 13th Beach and Torquay.
Police called for information in the Independent in February after 11 reports of flashing on beaches from Ocean Grove to Torquay over summer.
Geelong Sexual Offences Unit’s Dale Menzies said Bellarine Peninsula beaches accounted for nine of the obscene exposures.
Victims reported a further four between February and March, he said.
The latest report on March 23 involved a man making “inappropriate advances” to a female on 13th Beach before undressing.
Detective Senior Constable Menzies said the man was last seen in Burgundy-coloured, 1990s model Ford station wagon.
Police described the suspect as between 35 and 45 years old and 180cm with a stocky build and a tanned complexion.
He had short, cropped hair and a tattoo of a Sun on the right side of his chest, Det Snr Constable Menzies said.
He urged anyone with information to phone 000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Torquay Detective Sergeant Craig Blunt said flashers usually appeared in warmer months but feared they could return during Easter and the Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro when tens of thousands of visitors flocked to the Surf Coast.
“If we do have warmer weather over Easter people need to be vigilant of those loitering in car parks,” he said.
“Even if people think it’s not an emergency we need them to call 000 because we need to know about these people. Getting an offender’s registration number or description really helps.”
Police said a man approached two women walking on Torquay’s Whites Beach on February 19 before undressing in front of them
The women left the beach but the man approached them again in a car park.
The women described the man as about 183cm, thin, in his mid to late-20s with brown collar-length hair. He was last seen in a bright blue ute with a Conargo Pub sticker on the rear window.
Torquay Police Station assembled a special taskforce of plainclothes officers to hunt the flashers but have yet to make an arrest.
