Two-and-a-half months before Randall Hopley allegedly kidnapped a B.C. toddler, a judge warned him that he was being monitored by police and would surely be caught if he tried to commit a crime.

During a sentencing hearing in June after the 46-year-old Sparwood man was convicted of assault for punching a woman outside the local library, Judge Ronald Webb told Hopley that Mounties were keeping a close eye on him.

"You know they are watching," the judge said.

"You know that they are watching you probably more closely than anybody else or as closely as anybody else in the community. If you do something, you are likely to get caught. Keep that in mind. Hopefully we won't see you again."

But apparently police weren't watching closely enough. Not long after Hopley was released from jail, Mounties allege that he broke into three-year-old Kienan Hebert's home and abducted him on Sept. 6.

The boy was returned to his family home, apparently unharmed, four days later and Hopley was arrested at a hideout just across the Alberta border on Tuesday. He is now charged with kidnapping, abduction of a child under 14 and break and enter.

Hopley has a criminal record that stretches back more than two decades, and includes sexual assault, assault and numerous break-and-enters.

In court documents posted online Friday, Webb, a provincial court judge in Cranbrook describes Hopley's record as "many minor things that others could probably fly under the radar to some degree."

His most recent conviction was for assaulting his friend Michelle McCann after they got into a spat at the library on April 20. Hopley punched her three times on the left side of the head, leaving her "badly shaken up," according to the judge.

Webb sentenced Hopley to two months in prison for the assault, to be followed by two years of probation. He had already been on probation for three years at the time of the sentencing.

The judge nodded to a troubled past, but said that was no excuse for Hopley's crimes.

"I am not without my sympathies to Mr. Hopley's background, but I am mindful of the fact that much of his recent trouble is as a result of him not following court orders," Webb said as he handed down his sentence.

"You know the police are watching you. You have to govern yourself that way."

Mounties say that they "quickly identified" Hopley as a person of interest in Hebert's abduction, but RCMP spokespeople have not returned calls for comment on how closely they were monitoring the accused man prior to the kidnapping.

Previous victim "scared" and "angry"

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.

The sentencing decision in that case was also posted online Friday, and describes in detail the emotional impact of the ordeal on the young victim, a vulnerable child living in foster care.

"He often wakes up during the night, resulting in poor sleeping patterns. He now sleeps with his bedroom door open. He feels that someone is always trying to break into his home. He is sometimes fearful in the community. He is sad. He is angry," Webb wrote in that decision.

"He has explained emotional difficulties that affect his school performance. He cannot get his work done, his teacher gets mad at him, the kids get mad at him, all of which are expected consequences as a result of what has happened."

The boy's foster parents also told the court that they felt responsible for what happened, and another foster child in the house said that he was terrified about the possibility of another break-in.

Hopley claimed that he had been offered payment to kidnap the little boy in order to return him to his birth mother.

The judge said that explanation was simply unacceptable.

"To suggest that it was done as a business transaction is, to say the least, offensive to any right-thinking person. To suggest this as an explanation, that an adult would break into a home of a vulnerable 10-year-old child and try to take him forcefully from the home to make a few hundred dollars to support his own life, is a pathetic attempt to provide the court with any insight as to why this occurred," Webb wrote.

The judge pointed out that "items associated to children" were found in Hopley's home -- a discovery that would be echoed in 2010, when an Alberta family encountered Hopley squatting in their cabin, filling the drawers with stolen children's clothing, chocolate bars and sex toys.