Sex offender Randall Hopley removed ankle bracelet to avoid court date: police

Vancouverpolice say high-risk sex offender Randall Hopleyremoved his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet in a "deliberate action" related to a court appearance Monday where he was supposed to go on trial for two counts of previously breaching his long-term supervision order.

Sgt. Steve Addison said at about 3 p.m. PT on Saturday, Nov. 4,Hopleywalked away from his Vancouver halfway house after telling several people he was going to a nearby thrift store. Heremoved his ankle bracelet a short time later and has not been seen since.

Hopley was declared a long-term offender and handed a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern British Columbia.

He has a long history of convictions for assault, property and sexual crimes, including three sex offences against children.

Hopley'slong-term supervision order came into force in October 2018 when his jail sentence for the kidnapping ended.At that time he moved to a halfway house in Vancouver.

On Jan. 12, 2023 Hopleywas arrested and chargedwith two counts of violating his long-term supervision order from an alleged incident on Nov. 10,2022. Each charge comes with a maximum 10-year jail sentence.

He was held in custody untilFeb.8, 2023, when the court granted him a judicial interim releaseto the halfway house on a consent agreement.Crown counsel opposed Hopley's release, according to spokesman Daniel McLaughlin.

A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the 58-year-old. Addison said Hopley could still be in Vancouver or a neighbouringmunicipality and the Vancouver Police Department's high-risk offender team is amongthe units searching for him.

He is described as five feet nine inchestall andweighing 176 pounds, with brown hair and hazel-coloured eyes. He was last seen wearing a black coat, black pantsandblack hat.

B.C. is pushing the federal government to bring in stricter bail conditions for repeat offenders charged with a serious violent offence involving a weapon. The reforms are now in front of the Senate for review, but evenif those reforms were in force, they would not have affected Hopley's release.

"Situations like this that we're experiencing with [Hopley]are unacceptable. When they happen, we have to understand how it happened and make sure that we can make the system better," said B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma.