A high-risk sex offender is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant after failing to return to his halfway house in Vancouver, police say. A Vancouver Police Department patch is seen on an officer's uniform in Vancouver, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A high-risk sex offender who abducted a three-year-old boy in 2011 is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant after failing to return to his halfway house in Vancouver.
Police say 58-year-old Randall Hopley was last seen Saturday at 3 p.m. and has a history of convictions for assault, property and sexual crimes, including three sex offences against children.
Hopley was convicted of the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern British Columbia, which touched off a Canada-wide search for the child.
Hopley, who took the boy from his family home, held the victim captive in a cabin for four days before returning him apparently unharmed.
Hopley served his full term for the abduction and was released in October 2018, but the National Parole Board said in January that the man violated his supervision orders after allegedly being caught using a computer at a public library – less than a metre from a group of children.
At the time, the parole board recommended charges against Hopley and said a long-term supervision order was needed because he is at high risk to reoffend.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2023.
