A Canada-wide search warrant has been issued for a high-risk sex offender who failed to meet his halfway house curfew for the third time in just over two years, with his most recent capture being in Surrey.
Darren Wheatley, 46, was released from custody Oct. 27 and has been living in Vancouver. He is currently on statutory release.
The present search warrant was issued after he didn’t return to his halfway house Nov. 9.
Wheatley is a two-time federal offender currently serving a 10-year sentence for two counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual assault causing bodily harm, and two counts of overcoming resistance by choking. Each of those counts stems from one of three separate attacks Wheatley committed on adult women in Ontario.
This is not the first time Wheatley has gone missing.
In March 2014, a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest was issued, charging him with breaching court-imposed release conditions. On that occasion, Wheatley was located in Kelowna two weeks after leaving his halfway house in Vancouver.
He triggered another police search less than a year later, when he missed curfew again.
Wheatley’s second disappearance ended at a drop-in centre at Keys Housing and Health Solutions in Surrey. People inside the centre recognized Wheatley and called the RCMP.
He is described as Aboriginal, 6-0 tall, weighing 230 pounds with a large build. He has short black hair and brown eyes. He also has tattoos of a cow, a skull and a feather on his right upper arm and a script design on his left upper arm.
The police say anyone who sees Wheatley is asked to not approach him and to call 911 immediately.