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New charge recommended against convicted Sparwood child abductor

The National Parole Board is advocating for a new charge against Randall Hopley, a convicted sex offender sentenced to four years for abducting a Sparwood boy in 2011.

Hopley had taken the three-year-old from his family home, sparking a nationwide search.

The boy was returned home four days later.

The National Parole Board said the 57-year-old has an extensive criminal record with 26 convictions for property, sexual, driving, and breach-related offences.

Hopley was released in 2018 after serving his full sentence. A long-term supervision order was put in place and he was put in a community residential facility.

There are a number of conditions Hopley was supposed to abide by with the supervision order.

This includes not being in areas where children under the age of 16 are likely to congregate and not owning or using a computer without written permission from a parole supervisor.

The National Parole Board said Hopley broke both of those conditions in November 2022, when he was caught looking up a news article about a young boy and browsing underwear advertisements on a library computer.

The parole board also states that he was approximately three feet away from a group of children.

The National Parole Board has extended his conditional residency by another year, something they have done every year since his release.

But they also said there is a substantial risk to society by resuming the long-term supervision order as he is likely to reoffend by the end of the order.

Because of that, the board is recommending a charge of breach of long-term supervision.

If he is found guilty of this, it could carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Until a decision is made, he will continue to stay in a community residential facility in the Lower Mainland and all previous conditions will remain.

Josiah Spyker
Josiah Spyker
Josiah is an integral part of our East Kootenay team. Since joining Vista Radio in 2021, he has combined his love of community and sport in his reporting for the news team, while also stepping in as an on-air announcer.

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