Parole board recommends charge against sex offender who abducted B.C. boy

Accused child abductor Randall Hopley is led out of the Cranbrook, B.C. courthouse on Sept. 14, 2011. (Bill Graveland / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -

More than four years after convicted sex offender Randall Hopley finished his sentence for abducting a young British Columbia boy, the parole board is recommending charges against him for not complying with supervision orders.

The National Parole Board says in a statement the recommendation for the criminal charge will go to the B.C. attorney general, and comes after it alleges Hopley was caught using a computer at a public library, less than a metre from a group of children.

Hopley abducted a three-year-old boy in southeastern B.C. in 2011, setting off a Canada-wide search for the child, only to return him apparently unharmed four days later.

The 57-year-old served his full term until October 2018, but the board says in a decision released Monday that a long-term supervision order was needed because he was an untreated sex offender with a high risk to reoffend.

The board has also extended a long-term supervision order for another year, forcing Hopley to live in a residential facility under numerous conditions, including obeying a curfew and not to be near children.

The board's decision says Hopley didn't appear to understand that he'd done anything wrong in the library and he lied to his case management team about the incident.

The report says Hopley needs structure, support and supervision at the residential facility where he lives.

“Your release in the community has been marred by suspensions and breaches and you do not appear to understand or appreciate your risk level. You deny wrongdoing, which is worrisome, and you did not provide any reasonable explanation for your behaviours,” the decision says.

It says the board finds that resuming the long-term supervision order for another year is necessary because Hopley is still a substantial risk.

“To date, no appropriate program of supervision has been established that will adequately protect society from your risk of reoffending.”

In 2011, Hopley took the boy from his family home and held him captive in a cabin for four days.

He later returned the child to his home, then phoned police to tell them where the boy was.

The parole board says no victim statements are on file from the family, “but serious harm did occur.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2023.