Abbotsford police looking for suspect in alleged sexual assault on transit bus

Abbotsford police are asking the public to help them locate a man suspected of makingunwanted sexual advances towarda 17-year-old girl on a B.C. Transit bus.

The suspect, a man in his 60s, approached the girl at a bus stop in central Abbotsford on Oct. 3, followed her onto a bus, and left once the bus driver confronted him, according to a news release from Abbotsford police.

The release says the 17-year-old girl was waiting at the Bourquin Crescent bus exchange when the man approached her around 6:40 p.m. He sat in the seat next to her on a No.9 bus and began making "unwanted sexual advances and engaged in unwanted touching."

"The bus driver noticed that the victim looked uncomfortable and he was unsure what was happening," said Sgt. Judy Bird. "The bus driver calls out saying, 'Hey are you okay? Do you need some help?' "

Bird says the bus was mostly empty. At the next stop, she says, the driver left his seat and asked the male suspect to move to another seat. The man then got off the bus.

The victim told her guardian about the incident when she got home and they contacted Abbotsford police to report it.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident or who can help identify the male suspect to contact investigators at 604-859-5225.

The suspect is described as a South Asian man with a white beard whowas wearing a blue surgical mask, light blue turban, dark shoes and light-coloured cloth shirt and pants.