The desperate search for a convicted child sex offender is over after police in Vancouver confirmed Tuesday morning Randall Hopley has been arrested.
Hopley failed to return to his halfway house in Vancouver on Nov. 4, sparking a Canada-wide warrant. More than a dozen full-time investigators had been searching for the man.
After disappearing, police said he had cut off his electronic monitoring device as the 58-year-old was worried about an upcoming court appearance and feared he would be returned to custody.
Police say he was arrested in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood just after 6 a.m.
The Vancouver Police Department says it will be holding a media conference where more information will be shared later Tuesday.
Hopley served a six-year prison sentence after abducting a child in Sparwood, B.C. in 2011, sparking an Amber Alert. He was released in 2018 on a 10-year long-term supervision order and moved to a halfway house in Vancouver.
He had been scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 6 after being charged with two counts of violating his supervision order earlier this year after getting caught at a public library and being too close to children.
B.C. Premier David Eby previously said he was “deeply disturbed” Hopley has been able to essentially vanish and has criticized the National Parole Board for not placing him under stricter supervision.
Source: https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/11/14/vancouver-sex-offender-randall-hopley-arrested/
