Randall Hopley, a high-risk sex offender, was arrested by Vancouver police on Thursday, just hours after his release from prison. Hopley was freed from Mission Institution on statutory release, a federal law that allows most prisoners to gain conditional freedom after serving two-thirds of their sentence.

Upon his release, Hopley was required to reside at a halfway house in Vancouver. However, he did not comply with this condition and left the facility, prompting the Vancouver Police Department to issue a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest.

Hopley had completed two-thirds of an 18-month jail sentence, which was imposed last May after he pleaded guilty to breaching the conditions of a long-term supervision order in both 2022 and 2023. His history includes a significant incident in November 2023, when he cut off his ankle monitor and absconded from the halfway house located in the Downtown Eastside. He remained at large for 10 days before surrendering to authorities.

In addition to his recent breaches, Hopley had previously pleaded guilty to violating the supervision order by being near children under the age of 16. This incident occurred in November 2022 when he was reported to have gotten too close to children while visiting a library.

Hopley has a lengthy criminal history, including a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern British Columbia. Following his release in 2018, he was placed under a 10-year supervision order, which mandated his residence in a halfway house. His criminal record also includes a conviction in 1985 for the sexual assault of a child, for which he received a two-year prison sentence and three years of probation.