High-risk sex offender charged in SkyTrain groping, transit police say

Hayden McCorriston was the subject of a public warning by the Vancouver Police Department on April 17, 2025.

A “high-risk sex offender” has been charged with sexual assault after allegedly groping a teenage girl in Surrey earlier this year.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police announced Thursday that 30-year-old Hayden McCorriston had been charged with sexual assault in connection to an April 18 incident at Gateway SkyTrain Station.

Around 9 p.m. that day, McCorriston allegedly followed a 17-year-old girl off of a train and groped her as she walked along the platform. The suspect then fled the station when the girl approached other passengers for help.

At the time of the assault, the Vancouver Police Department had just issued a public warning about McCorriston, saying that he was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for breaching the conditions of his release from prison.

It was the second warning the VPD had issued about McCorriston in as many days. He was also the subject of a public warning when he was released to a Vancouver halfway house on April 17.

According to police, McCorriston had obtained statutory release after serving two-thirds of his three-year, two-month sentence, which he received in 2023 after pleading guilty to five counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault, one count of assault by choking, one count of committing an indecent act, and one count of robbery.

• Read more: ‘High-risk’ sex offender back in Vancouver police custody
• Warrant issued for high-risk sex offender, Vancouver police say
• Sex offender living in Vancouver poses ‘significant risk’: police
• 3-year sentence for man who went on sexual assault spree in Burnaby, RCMP say

In their news release Thursday, transit police said McCorriston remains in custody.

“Everyone has the right to arrive at their transit destination safely, and without the fear of harassment or assault,” said Const. Amanda Steed, in the release.

“Thanks to this young woman’s quick thinking, officers were able to conduct investigative steps that identified the suspect and make an arrest.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Andrew Weichel