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New charge recommended for B.C. child abductor Randall Hopley

Parole board says Hopley should be criminally charged with failing to comply with supervision orders
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Randall Hopley. File photo

A parole board has recommended a criminal charge of failing to comply with supervision orders for the man convicted of abducting a three-year-old boy from his home in Sparwood.

Randall Hopley served almost five years for abduction and breaking and entering but was released last November under a long-term supervision order to a residential facility in the Lower Mainland.

A board decision released Monday says police received information a month after Hopley’s release that he allegedly sent a letter to a high-profile sex offender on supervision suggesting a relationship, offering the offender gifts and a cellphone so they could discuss previous criminal matters.

In June, the decision says Hopley acted threateningly towards a parole supervisor and when officers were sent to pick him up he resisted arrest.

Hopley abducted the boy in September 2011 and returned him unharmed a few days later.

He was under numerous release conditions including that he stay away from children under 16 and keep the peace.

The Parole Board of Canada decision dated Aug. 16 says it appears Hopley’s risk is unmanageable and recommends the Crown charge Hopley with breaching his conditions.

Dan McLaughlin of the B.C. prosecution service said it generally doesn’t comment on charges that may be under investigation or charge assessment.

The decision says Hopley, 54, hasn’t developed significant insight into his risks, particularly his sexual risk factors.

“When you were provided with information you did not agree with, you lost control of your emotions, deflected responsibility from yourself to your former parole supervisor and behaved in a threatening and obstructive manner. When police came to your door, you resisted.”

READ MORE: B.C. child abductor Randall Hopley back in custody, six months after release

The decision says Hopley hasn’t accepted responsibility for the circumstances for his previous parole suspensions and has no insight into his sexually deviant or high-risk behaviour.

The Canadian Press

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