Police in New Hampshire are searching for an ex-convict suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two Irish students who were in the United States for the summer on working visas.
Police said Mr Steven Gordon (28), who has served a sentence for sexual assault, forced the women into his car last Saturday and assaulted them near a cemetery in the Portsmouth area of New Hampshire.
"He forced them into his car at gunpoint, sexually assaulted them and then released them," said Det Capt Adam Price of the Portsmouth police.
The women, both in their 20s, made their way to a nearby house and were taken to hospital.
Police identified Mr Gordon as the assailant after they found a rental car hired under his name abandoned at the cemetery, according to Capt Price. They believe he has left the area, and the search has widened to other states. Capt Price said he faces charges of aggravated sexual assault and possible kidnapping.
A spokesman for the Irish Consulate General in Boston said the two students are still in the US.
Irish students have been the victims of assaults before.
In 1995, a Dublin University biotechnology student from Kerry, Orla Benson, was raped and stabbed to death in Boston by Pedro Rosario, who was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. In 1994, Mr Patrick McDonagh (18), from Galway, disappeared in Boston. His body was discovered in the waters of a 300 ft quarry in Quincy, Massachusetts.