Warrant leads to child-porn arrest in White Rock

A man wanted in connection with the possession and distribution of child pornography learned the hard way that he couldn’t outwit police by leaving his house only when he thought they weren’t nearby.

White Rock RCMP Staff Sgt. Kale Pauls said the individual realized his folly when he encountered two women on the sidewalk during one of his not-so-stealthy excursions.

The women “appeared to be any other person in the neighbourhood,” Pauls said Thursday (June 3).

“But he soon learned they were two of our officers and he made a short escape on foot.”

It didn’t take long for the officers to catch up and, after a short effort to resist, the man conceded defeat – and even apologized for bolting, Pauls said.

Richard John Lewis, 46, is due in Surrey Provincial Court on June 9 on seven counts related to child pornography.

Police last October appealed to the public for help locating Lewis, who at the time was wanted on warrants for assault and uttering threats. Pauls noted Lewis again has active warrants for his arrest.

READ MORE: White Rock RCMP searching for wanted man

The example, which played out last month, was one Pauls shared following a June 1 tweet announcing that officers had dealt with a dozen warrants for multiple individuals, including one person who was located south of the border.

Warrant tracking update: 12 warrants dealt with on 6 individuals, others located outside of local area & police of jurisdiction notified. 1 individual located in USA. To those still avoiding the inevitable: Eliminate the anxiety of being wanted, chat with a lawyer & deal with it. https://t.co/NlRqJ1duSQ

— White Rock RCMP (@WhiteRockRCMP) June 1, 2021

Pauls said he could not get into the details of the U.S. file, but described that warrant – as well as the aforementioned child-porn-related one – as among more than 100 issued by the courts over the past 12 months for the seaside city.

Most, Pauls said, were in connection with Criminal Code offences, while others were associated with federal parole breaches and the Immigration Act.

Twenty-eight of the warrants were directly associated to White Rock investigations; 36 were for people who failed to appear for court; and 44 were in connection with matters in other police jurisdictions where the at-large individual was located in White Rock.

In another case from earlier this year, Pauls said White Rock officers corralled an individual who was wanted on a warrant out of Ontario for domestic-violence-related offences. Police from that province flew out to take custody and return the subject to face court.

Pauls said most warrant subjects are located within days, if not hours, and encouraged those who know they are wanted by police to make things easier and less stressful for all involved by turning themselves in.

“Any court process just gets paused until you are found, and in White Rock we are likely to find you,” he said.