A violent offender who fled his halfway house in 2023 has been arrested by the Vancouver Police Department’s Fugitive Team in the Downtown Eastside, where he’s been living under a false name for two years.

The 30-year-old was serving a 10-year, five-month jail sentence for multiple crimes, including second-degree murder in Winnipeg, when he obtained statutory release in March 2023 and was ordered to live at a halfway house in New Westminster. At the time of his release, he was also serving a four-year sentence for aggravated assaults on two corrections officers.

The inmate disappeared from his halfway house within weeks of his release, and he’s been wanted Canada-wide since May 2023.  A Vancouver Police investigation has now discovered the man has been hiding out in the Downtown Eastside since his disappearance.

Investigators from VPD’s Fugitive Team, deployed as part of Task Force Barrage, took the violent offender back into custody on Saturday near Gore Avenue and Alexander Street. Police believe he’s been living in the neighbourhood for the past two years, using a false name, and working part-time as kitchen staff in a shelter

Now 30 years old, the suspect cannot be identified by name because he was convicted as a youth.