Man faces multiple charges after robbery, assaults in Vancouver crime spree

A suspect was arrested following a crime spree in Vancouver’s Oakridge neighbourhood, during which a 14-year-old was sexually assaulted at knifepoint.

A 62-year-old man is facing a string of charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement, in connection to a crime rampage that involved two assaults and the robbery of a bank in Vancouver Wednesday afternoon.

The spree began around 5:15 p.m. with the assault of a woman in an office building at Cambie Street and West 41st Avenue, near Oakridge Centre, the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement Friday.

The woman, 58, had been leaving a medical appointment when a stranger grabbed her and assaulted her in a hallway. The woman screamed and was able to escape without serious injury, police said.

“Minutes later, a 14-year-old girl was using a public washroom in the same building when she was sexually assaulted and forcibly confined by a stranger who was armed with a knife,” the statement said.

During the assault, someone attempted to enter the washroom, resulting in the suspect fleeing the scene. As police responded to a call relating to the assault, the suspect was entering a bank on the ground floor of the same building to commit robbery.

Just 25 minutes after the spree had begun, the suspect was located by police, arrested and taken into custody.

Surrey man John Frederick Field, 62, has been charged with sexual assault with a weapon against a person under 16, forcible confinement, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery and assault. He remains in custody, police said.

Field was considered a high-risk offender by the VPD when he disappeared from his halfway house after being let out on statutory release from Kent Institution in 2022. Field was rearrested a few days later.

In their statement at the time, police said the then-60-year-old was “considered a significant risk to the public.”