Randall Hopley was standing at police station door when arrested, Vancouver police say
Police had been searching for convicted sex offender since he removed his ankle bracelet and vanished Nov. 4
Fugitive Randall Hopley was standing at the locked door of the Vancouver Police Department annex on East Cordova Street near Main Street at 6 a.m. Tuesday when an off-duty officer arriving for work noticed and arrested him, police say.
VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said at a news conference later Tuesday that he didn't know if Hopley, 58, was trying to turn himself in, but later confirmed in an email to CBC that was in fact the case.
"... Our investigators have now spoken with Hopley and we can confirm that his intention was to turn himself in because he was cold," wrote Addison.
The arrest ends a 10-day search for the high-risk sex offender who left his halfway house on Nov. 4. and removed his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet before vanishing.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued on the same day for the long-term offender.
Addison said police believe Hopley stayed in the Downtown Eastside or Mount Pleasant neighbourhoods near his halfway house and "went to ground" to avoid detection.
He said there's no information Hopley committed any new offences while he was at large, nor that he was aided by another person.
Former police chief and B.C. solicitor general Kash Heed criticized how long it took police to find Hopley.
"It took just over 10 days to actually apprehend such an unsophisticated criminal that was out there in our community," said Heed.
"You have to look at this individual: he's an untreated sex offender, he does have some mental capacity issues — that's quite prevalent," said Heed. "And he's not really a sophisticated criminal operating in the drug trafficking world or property crime world."
Addison said over 25 full-time investigators were involved in the hunt for Hopley, which brought in 80 tips from members of the public in several jurisdictions.
When he first went missing, police theorized that Hopley was worried about an upcoming court appearance for breaching his release conditions late last year, and feared being returned to custody.
Hopley completed a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern B.C. and was released in 2018 to a Vancouver halfway house under a 10-year long-term supervision order.
Vancouver police issued a public warning in 2018 that he still posed a risk of significant harm to young boys.
He was arrested in January of this year for allegedly violating conditions of the order.
Hopley's criminal record also included convictions for assault and sexual crimes, including three sex offences against children.
Addison said it's likely police will recommend new charges against Hopley for consideration by the courts.
"Certainly given the circumstances ... we'll be recommending that Hopley remain in custody," he said.
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with files from Chad Pawson, Jon Hernandez