Randall Hopley, subject of 10-day manhunt, gets 29-month sentence
Randall Hopley, the subject of an intense 10-day manhunt and Canada-wide warrant last year, has been sentenced to 29 months in prison for breaching his supervision order.
Hopley, 58, is a high-risk sex offender who, among other crimes, kidnapped a three-year-old boy from his Sparwood, B.C., bedroom in 2011.
More recently, he pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his long-term supervision order — which came into force when he was released from jail eight years ago — and one count of failing to appear in court.
One charge of breaching the order pertained to accessing the internet at a library in the vicinity of children in 2022, while the other pertained to his disappearance in November 2023.
On Nov. 4, Hopley sparked a manhunt when he walked away from the Salvation Army Harbour Lights halfway house in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and cut off his electronic ankle monitoring bracelet.
A significant police effort failed to find him, but 10 days later Hopley appeared at the door of the Vancouver Police Department annex on East Cordova Street early in the morning, waiting for it to open so he could turn himself in.
Police said Hopley told them he had been staying under a bridge in South Vancouver and was cold, and that he wouldn't have turned himself in had it been summer.
In delivering her decision on Friday, Judge Jennifer Oulton said Hopley was entitled to time-and-a-half credit for time already served, equal to 11 months. That means he will remain behind bars for 18 months.
In photos released by the VPD, Randall Hopley is seen pulling a wagon with a box of belongings on the day he went missing from his Downtown Eastside halfway house. (Vancouver Police Department)
During Friday's hearing, Hopley became agitated when Oulton spoke of three child sexual assaults he committed but was never charged for when he was age 16 and 17.
"I want to stop you," shouted Hopley. "There is not three sexual assaults, there's only two. That is wrong. You got it wrong."
In 2008, Hopley was convicted of kidnapping a 10-year-old boy. Three years later, he kidnapped the three-year old in Sparwood and held him for four days in a cabin before returning him physically unharmed to his family home.
In November 2018 he was released from prison under the 10-year supervision order, which dictates that he cannot connect to the internet unsupervised and cannot be around children under the age of 16.
In 2022, Hopley breached the order by attending the Vancouver Public Library in Marpole. While at the library, Hopley accessed the internet on a public computer while a children's storytime was taking place nearby.
