Jan. 18 update: Victoria police say Edward Craig is back in custody.
Previous story...
The Victoria Police Department is warning the public that a convicted sex offender is on the loose.
Aaron Edward Craig, 28, has been living with his grandmother in Victoria, but now police say his whereabouts are unknown.
Officers believe Craig poses a significant risk of harm to young women and girls between the ages of 11 and 17. He is currently facing charges and awaiting trial for 15 offences.
Craig has been convicted of sexual interference of a person under 16 and of communicating via computer to lure a child under 16. Police say he used social media sites such as Facebook and Nexopia to lure victims.
On Saturday his grandmother spoke to CTV News about her grandson’s disappearance.
“I think he was totally frustrated and I think he wanted to go and drink,” said his grandmother Yvette Craig. “[Police] are calling him a predator and all this and that, but it’s not like he’s out there touching [girls] or even having anything to do with them. He’s drunk and on the Internet.”
Now his grandmother is pleading for the young man to turn himself in.
“[He should] call his mother or me or his father to pick him up and take him down to the police station to turn himself in,” she said.
Craig is wanted on a B.C.-wide arrest warrant for breaching the conditions of his bail.
Conditions include not being in the company of a person under 18 years except for members of his immediate family, not possessing or operating any device that’s capable of being connected to the Internet, not consuming alcohol or controlled substances, and not being in public areas where people under the age of 18 might be present.
Anyone with information about Craig’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 immediately.
With files from CTV Vancouver Island
