Sex offender Randall Hopley re-arrested in B.C., on same day he was freed from prison
Police say Hopley had been released from Mission Institution on Thursday morning and ordered to live at a Vancouver halfway house.
But he is alleged to have refused the directions of his parole officer and left the halfway house.
Police say Hopley was arrested after a Canada-wide warrant was issued, and he remains in custody.
Hopley obtained statutory release after being sentenced last May to 29 months in jail, minus credit for time served, having pleaded guilty to breaching conditions of a long-term supervision order on two occasions.
He previously completed a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy in southeastern B.C.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2025.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'They're real people': Mob focus of JFK assassination flick filmed in Winnipeg
WINNIPEG — Nicholas Celozzi has spent much of his life revisiting the events leading up to the assassination of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Hushed stories filled his childhood home. Conversations with his uncle Joseph (Pepe) Giancana, brother to Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, later helped shed light on his family's possible involvement in one of the most debated moments in American history. After decades of film and television portrayals of Sam Giancana, Celozzi is reconceptualizing the 1963 shooting of Kennedy with a focus on the major players in the Chicago Outfit, a powerful Italian-American criminal organization. For Celozzi, his latest screenwriting endeavour is about more than telling another assassination story. It's about family. "My family, my cousins, really got tired of people using our name, monetizing our name and telling a fake story," Celozzi said in an interview. "These aren't fictional people ... they're real people. They're vulnerable, they have nerves, they make mistakes, they are not quite sure about things." Sam Giancana, head of the Chicago Outfit in the 1950s and 1960s, was widely known for his ties to the Kennedy family. He was gunned down in his home in 1975, and his killing remains unsolved. Many have speculated the Mob group also played a role in Kennedy's assassination, and this is explored in Celozzi's "November 1963," which began filming in Winnipeg this summer. Relying on Pepe Giancana's stories, Celozzi focuses on the 48 hours leading up to the assassination. Giancana, a fill-in driver for his brother, had been a fly on the wall in the days leading up to the assassination, said Celozzi, who is also one of the producers on the independent film. Many conversations led to what Celozzi calls the "Pepe chronicles," a series of stories detailing the family's Mob ties. "I was always aware of who they were. These aren't things that everybody just kind of goes home and talks about. It's an awareness. It's kind of a strange reality that you're born into," said Celozzi. Pepe Giancana died in the mid-'90s, leaving his stories with Celozzi. The writer said he knew he wanted to do something to honour his family's history without degrading them to caricatures often found in Mob flicks. So he began working with Sam Giancana's daughter Bonnie Giancana to craft the script. Over the course of several years and rewrites, Celozzi said they worked to ensure every detail was accurate. "I needed to keep that honest with the story Pepe gave me, or why do it at all? If I wasn't going to be truthful to what he gave me, there was no purpose in me doing it," said Celozzi. He brought veteran Canadian producer Kevin DeWalt of Minds Eye Entertainment on board to produce the movie, which wrapped shooting in Winnipeg last week and goes into post-production in Saskatchewan. "I don't think the family's proud of what happened ... it was important for them to tell the truth before they die," DeWalt said. The cast includes John Travolta, Dermot Mulroney and Mandy Patinkin and is directed by Academy Award nominated English filmmaker Roland Joffé. When it came time to pick a location that could mimic 1960s Chicago and the landmark Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where Kennedy was killed, producers chose Winnipeg over other major cities such as Atlanta and New Orleans in part because of its Exchange District neighbourhood. Producers decided Winnipeg was a perfect stand-in for the Windy City. Dealey Plaza, and the famous Grassy Knoll, was built from scratch at Birds Hill Provincial Park, northeast of Winnipeg. The film features 1,500 extras and 75 to 80 period cars to accurately portray the time period. DeWalt said he expects viewers will be blown away by the film's ability to bring a new level of authenticity and validity to the moment in history. "People will walk out of the theatre with their own impressions about what it all means," he said. "At the end of the day, at least we've given them the tools for one of these things that's been told, and they can make their own impressions in terms of how they feel about it." When asked if he thinks the film might ruffle feathers with historians, governments or Mob members, Celozzi said that's not his goal. "What I'm doing is just putting in that missing piece, not glamorizing, just writing it." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025. Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
A theft, a sting and an apology: How these Toronto cyclists got their stolen bikes back
The thief who cut a hole into Noah Rosen and Suzanne Carlsen's fence to steal their bikes probably didn't expect what happened next. Rosen and Carlsen run VéloColour, a Toronto shop known for painting high-end bikes. The couple says the stolen bikes, which they lovingly modified, have a combined value of more than $5,000. They weren't planning to let them go without a chase. "There is sentimental value, but also just a straight cost. And we weren't prepared to lose that much money and then have to replace them," said Rosen. The thief messed with the wrong cyclists — who set up a sting operation to get their bikes back — a solution police don't recommend, but some Torontonians resort to as bicycle thefts remain a widespread issue. The heist It all began last Friday, when the couple was working at their shop. Outside, a security camera captured the culprit cutting through their fence, where the bikes were locked, and riding away with them. "I just started to cry because it was like my baby," said Carlsen, whose bike carries memories from a recent trek through Kyrgyzstan's mountains. The couple shared the ordeal with their large social media following in the hopes other cyclists and shops would recognize their unique bikes if resold. The first clue of the bikes' whereabouts came on Sunday, when Carlsen spotted an ad on Facebook Marketplace for a Surly Bridge Club that looked familiar. "I clicked on it and it was my exact bike," she says. The couple reported the theft to Toronto police, who they say wouldn't help without proof the bike in the ad was one of the ones stolen. That's when they decided to take matters into their own hands. Toronto police were unable to confirm the couple's account prior to publication. The sting With the help of friends, the couple says they set up a meeting with the seller and hid in an alley until they had a chance to confront him. "I went straight into his face and I said, 'You stole our bikes,'" said Rosen. The couple says they retrieved the bike and quickly snapped a photo of the seller as he ran away. Then they messaged the seller, saying they had his photo and phone number as leverage to get the second stolen bike back. The couple says the seller sent a "heartfelt" response. "I'm truly sorry. I don't want any violence….I left the bike up the street and the key is under the front tire," Carlsen says the seller replied. Carlsen says she is still shocked they managed to bring their stolen bikes home in just 48 hours. More than a thousand bicycles have been stolen in Toronto so far this year, police data shows. The number of bike thefts has gone down gradually over the years but spikes over the summer months, according to the data. Toronto police say they advised the couple against the sting out of concern for their safety as the interaction could become aggressive or violent. "Not everybody wants to meet the person that has taken their stuff. You have to decide where your comfort level is," said Rosen. If your bike is stolen, police recommend reporting it and including the serial number, a unique number usually engraved on the frame that can identify a bike even if it's modified. That's the big takeaway for Carlsen, who didn't have her serial number and couldn't prove to police the bike being sold online was hers since she had no up-to-date photo showing how she modified it. "I feel incredibly lucky because there's so many people out there who don't get stolen bikes back."
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
A theft, a sting and an apology: How these Toronto cyclists got their stolen bikes back
The thief who cut a hole into Noah Rosen and Suzanne Carlsen's fence to steal their bikes probably didn't expect what happened next. Rosen and Carlsen run VéloColour, a Toronto shop known for painting high-end bikes. The couple says the stolen bikes, which they lovingly modified, have a combined value of more than $5,000. They weren't planning to let them go without a chase. "There is sentimental value, but also just a straight cost. And we weren't prepared to lose that much money and then have to replace them," said Rosen. The thief messed with the wrong cyclists — who set up a sting operation to get their bikes back — a solution police don't recommend, but some Torontonians resort to as bicycle thefts remain a widespread issue. The heist It all began last Friday, when the couple was working at their shop. Outside, a security camera captured the culprit cutting through their fence, where the bikes were locked, and riding away with them. "I just started to cry because it was like my baby," said Carlsen, whose bike carries memories from a recent trek through Kyrgyzstan's mountains. The couple shared the ordeal with their large social media following in the hopes other cyclists and shops would recognize their unique bikes if resold. The first clue of the bikes' whereabouts came on Sunday, when Carlsen spotted an ad on Facebook Marketplace for a Surly Bridge Club that looked familiar. "I clicked on it and it was my exact bike," she says. The couple reported the theft to Toronto police, who they say wouldn't help without proof the bike in the ad was one of the ones stolen. That's when they decided to take matters into their own hands. Toronto police were unable to confirm the couple's account prior to publication. The sting With the help of friends, the couple says they set up a meeting with the seller and hid in an alley until they had a chance to confront him. "I went straight into his face and I said, 'You stole our bikes,'" said Rosen. The couple says they retrieved the bike and quickly snapped a photo of the seller as he ran away. Then they messaged the seller, saying they had his photo and phone number as leverage to get the second stolen bike back. The couple says the seller sent a "heartfelt" response. "I'm truly sorry. I don't want any violence….I left the bike up the street and the key is under the front tire," Carlsen says the seller replied. Carlsen says she is still shocked they managed to bring their stolen bikes home in just 48 hours. More than a thousand bicycles have been stolen in Toronto so far this year, police data shows. The number of bike thefts has gone down gradually over the years but spikes over the summer months, according to the data. Toronto police say they advised the couple against the sting out of concern for their safety as the interaction could become aggressive or violent. "Not everybody wants to meet the person that has taken their stuff. You have to decide where your comfort level is," said Rosen. If your bike is stolen, police recommend reporting it and including the serial number, a unique number usually engraved on the frame that can identify a bike even if it's modified. That's the big takeaway for Carlsen, who didn't have her serial number and couldn't prove to police the bike being sold online was hers since she had no up-to-date photo showing how she modified it. "I feel incredibly lucky because there's so many people out there who don't get stolen bikes back."
