Convicted sex offender back in Vancouver after statutory release, police warn

Sex offender Randall Hopley, 60, is seen in a police handout image.

Authorities are warning the public that convicted sex offender Randall Peter Hopley is once again living in Vancouver.

The 60-year-old offender – who first made headlines in 2011 when he abducted a young boy from the community of Sparwood – was let out on a “recalculated statutory release date, as mandated by law,” the Vancouver Police Department said in a news release Monday.

“Police believe compelling reasons exist to warn the public that he poses a high risk to the public and a high risk to breach his conditions,” the department added.

The last time Hopley was released from prison in May, he walked away from his halfway house the very next day. Police arrested him hours later.

In 2023, Hopley cut off an ankle monitor and fled another Vancouver halfway house – sparking a 10-day manhunt that ended with the offender turning himself in. Hopley told authorities he did so because he was cold.

Police noted that Hopley is bound by several court-imposed conditions, including that he keep away from anywhere children under the age of 16 are likely to congregate, such as daycares, schools, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and rec centres.

He’s to obey a daily curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., and is barred from using or possessing computers or any devices that would allow for unsupervised access to the internet.

He is also prohibited from possessing or accessing pornography or “sexually explicit material in any form,” authorities said.

Police said officers from the department’s High-Risk Offender Unit will be working with the Correctional Service of Canada to monitor Hopley, but asked anyone who sees him breaching his conditions to call 911.