Sex offender wanted Canada-wide arrested in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Vancouver police headquarters on Cambie Street is shown in this undated file image. (CTV)

A registered sex offender who had been unaccounted for since December has been arrested in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, police say.

James Hurlbut was wanted Canada-wide for sexual interference and committing an indecent act, according to the Vancouver Police Department, which said it arrested him Friday after a month-long investigation.

The 52-year-old has been a convicted sex offender since 2003 and was required to register any change of address, the VPD said in a news release Tuesday.

“It’s believed he moved out of his previous residence and had been unaccounted for since last December,” the release reads.

Investigators “obtained a number of judicial authorizations and used other advanced investigative techniques to locate Hurlbut,” police added.

Online court records indicate Hurlbut remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in Vancouver provincial court on Wednesday on a breach of probation charge.

The VPD attributed Hurlbut’s arrest to “Task Force Barrage,” the department’s controversial $5-million crackdown on crime in the Downtown Eastside.

Last week, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim – who announced the task force alongside then-VPD Chief Adam Palmer at a news conference in February – was unable to explain how the added expenditures for the task force were approved.

• Read more: Vancouver mayor can’t answer how $5M for ‘Task Force Barrage’ was approved
• Former Vancouver Police Board member questions budget approval process for $5M crackdown on DTES crime
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With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Isabella Zavarise