Randall Hopley has pleaded guilty to abducting three-year-old Kienan Hebert from his home in southeast B.C. last fall.
He entered guilty pleas to abduction of a person under the age of 14 and break and enter Monday during an appearance by video in Cranbrook Supreme Court. He also pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, but that charge is expected to be stayed.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 18 and 19.
Hebert was snatched from his bedroom in Sparwood in the early hours of Sept. 7, sparking a manhunt that spanned two provinces and was the subject of two separate Amber Alerts. The little boy was returned to his empty family home unharmed on Sept. 11 and Hopley was arrested at an abandoned cabin near the B.C.-Alberta border two days later after an intensive search.
Police have released few details about where Hebert was during his disappearance, but Hopley was considered a person of interest in the abduction from early on in the investigation.
Hopley has a criminal record that stretches back more than two decades, and includes sexual assault, assault and numerous break-and-enters.
Perhaps the most troubling incident in Hopley's criminal history is an attempt to abduct a 10-year-old Sparwood boy in 2008. He admitted to the crime, but charges of unlawful confinement and attempted abduction were stayed.
Instead, Hopley was sentenced to 18 months in jail for break-and-enter.
He was also arrested in Alberta in 2010 after a family found him squatting in their cabin. They say he had filled the drawers with stolen children's clothing, chocolate bars and sex toys and built a room that could be locked from the outside.
