British Columbia Premier David Eby said it is unacceptable convicted child sex offender Randall Hopley will not have his leave privileges scrapped, despite disappearing from a Vancouver halfway house for 10 days in November. Global News reported Wednesday Eby plans to raise his concerns with the Parole Board of Canada’s (PBC) decision about Hopley with federal officials. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) issued a Canada-wide manhunt for Hopley in November after he failed to return to his Vancouver halfway house. READ MORE: Notorious BC child sex offender Hopley on the loose, wanted Canada-wideIn 2011, he abducted a three-year-old boy from his Sparwood, BC, home and kept him in an abandoned cabin for four days. He ended up bringing the boy home. He was sentenced in 2013 and spent six years in prison before being released on parole in 2018 with a 10-year supervision order. The VPD issued a public warning of his release at the time, stating he was a significant risk to harming young boys. The VPD arrested Hopley in November, ending a 10-day search after he fled his halfway house. READ MORE: Vancouver police arrest notorious sex offenderIt said he was arrested in the Downtown Eastside after 6 p.m. and was put in custody at the Vancouver Jail. More details would be provided at a later date. The PBC declined to rescind Hopley’s overnight leave privileges, despite his previous breaches and the incident where he was unlawfully at large. "While the board concurs with your case management team that your most recent behaviours are concerning when it comes to any potential leave authorization, the Board also notes the required approval from your parole supervisor prior to the granting of any leaves and therefore, does not believe it necessary to remove the previous authorization," it said. With Hopley’s release, Eby said there “is something that is not working here.”“The problem is definitely Randall Hopley, but it is also a system that allows him to be continuously released in our community to put kids at risk; it’s not acceptable,” he said. He vowed to reach out to his federal counterparts about this, as they could address this. The decision not to rescind his privileges comes after numerous disturbing patterns of behaviour noted by the PBC. It said he was diagnosed with pedophilia, borderline intellectual functioning and a personality disorder. His release had been suspended four times since 2019 for breaching conditions or being aggressive. One suspension came after he was caught using a computer, violating his release conditions, at a library in 2022. He accessed a news article about a young boy and browsed underwear ads. “You had breached your condition not to be near children’s areas as you were located approximately three feet away from a group of children visiting the library,” it said. Eby said he could not fathom Hopley being released back into the community after breaching his conditions to stay away from children. “He was then released back to the community with nothing more than an ankle bracelet protecting kids from him,” he said.“He broke that bracelet off, wandered off in the community and terrified parents across the province that he was going to show up in the house in the middle of the night and take their kids just like he did before.”The PBC noted halfway house staff have found sex toys, pornography, adult underwear and SIM cards in his possession. He has been assessed as being a high risk to reoffend sexually and a moderate risk for other types of offences and has shown he struggles with self-control, including by having a history of angry outbursts at staff and his parole supervisor. Hopley is due in court on April 26 to face charges related to breaching his conditions in November.
