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High-Risk Sex Offender Breaches Release In Vancouver

Posted: 04/ 6/2012 4:38 pm Updated: 04/ 9/2012 5:26 am

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Vancouver police are trying to locate a high-risk sex offender with ties to Calgary and B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, who breached conditions of his release while under a federal supervision order.


James Patrick Benson, 32, walked away from the halfway house he was staying at in Vancouver late Thursday night.


Police said Benson has a criminal history dating back to the early 1990s, which includes convictions for sexual assault, attempted murder, extortion and various property and weapons offences committed in the greater Calgary area.


Benson was staying at the halfway house while under a federal Long Term Supervision Order.


Vancouver police said that Benson has been the subject of past public notifications. He breached his release conditions at the end of February 2011, and was found about a week later in Port Mellon on the Sunshine Coast at a friend's house.


Police describe Benson as white, five feet eight inches tall and 200 pounds, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He has prescription glasses and has scars on his left forearm and left calf.


He also has several notable tattoos: the word "morbid" in a tribal-style font on his left forearm; the date "01-17-07" on the inside of his left wrist; the words "lost soul" on his upper chest; a flame design on this left thigh; and a tribal art design on his upper right arm.


Police said anyone who sees Benson should not approach him, and should call 911.


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Vancouver police are trying to locate a high-risk sex offender with ties to Calgary and B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, who breached conditions of his release while under a federal supervision ord...
Vancouver police are trying to locate a high-risk sex offender with ties to Calgary and B.C.'s Sunshine Coast, who breached conditions of his release while under a federal supervision ord...
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huffing and puffing2
28 Fans
01:13 PM on 04/07/2012
how about a picture. certainly would help.
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Afraid dissapointed
0 Fans
06:13 AM on 04/07/2012
Unfortunatley this is the way our system works. Sad to say but my son is a sex offender and has been taken through the courts with nothing but a slap on the wrist. They call him a "low risk" even though he has offended many times. He is also in the community, where i have expressed concern that he is in a area where there are schools, day homes and day cares not to mention the toddlers running around with no supervision just a few houses down from him. The courts say he needs to have freedom do i want him locked up answer YES so he has a court order saying he can not have any contact with anyone under the age of 12. I have reported that he is having contact with "under the age of 12 children" but because he denies it to his PO officer nothing can be done. It is not if he reoffends again it is when. when he does he will just be re located to another area.
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Ian Llangan
Your Invisible Sky Friend Is Morally Abhorrent
842 Fans
02:05 PM on 04/07/2012
Have you considered home-administered euthanasia?
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oogaboogaboogaloo
0 Fans
02:35 AM on 04/07/2012
Where's his photograph to enable us readers the ability to spot him? Thanks for nothing Huffington Post!
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Afraid dissapointed
0 Fans
11:48 PM on 04/07/2012
http://www.theprovince.com/news/High+risk+offender+wanted+after+walking+away+from+Vancouver+halfway+house/6421542/story.html

here is a link to a picture
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rotary
canucklehead
25 Fans
 
01:12 AM on 04/07/2012
Wow, good job department of corrections. We need to review who granted him parole with a fine tooth comb and remove them from their position(s). This is an intolerable mistake when you blatantly disregard public safety in light of previous breaches.

Incredible. Seriously, incredible.
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Murman
I read the news today, oh boy.
103 Fans
11:26 AM on 04/07/2012
but he got parole, walked away Feb 2011 and then they caught him and put him in a halfway house AGAIN. How many strikes will this guy get?
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Brooke Shils
13 Fans
12:56 AM on 04/07/2012
Holds the answer of the offender is known and that is the site of the Vancouver Police
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Eileen Warren
43 Fans
 
10:03 PM on 04/06/2012
If he is that high risk,why was he not returned to jail after his first breach?Friends in high places maybe?
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mpasmith
Send in ... the clowns.
601 Fans
09:22 PM on 04/06/2012
Why in God's name was a high risk offender staying at a haflway house?
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wetcoastm
Free Speech As Dictated By Our Sponsors
268 Fans
09:17 PM on 04/06/2012
Why was he in a halfway house with his history. This is why people don't want halfway houses in their communities. He should not be out on parole and if he has served his sentence and is still a danger why not charge him under the dangerous offender provision?
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toofarleft4thisworld
The Right Is So Wrong
358 Fans
07:37 PM on 04/06/2012
i'm betting that was a pretty astute parole board who figured this guy was worth taking a chance on. i'm guessing they live in a gated community and their kids are safe.
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LongDogMom
4 Fans
06:51 PM on 04/06/2012
Why is this guy at a halfway house and not behind bars permanently? Isn't a risk to public safety the most important thing? I'd like all the people that keep making decisions to let dangerous offenders out from behind bars have to take some personal responsibility...at least make their names and faces known, since they are making decisions that clearly could affect all of us! This makes me so angry!
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SeeTheFnords
Look out - there's one behind you!
225 Fans
06:19 PM on 04/06/2012
It's kind of sad - part of me wants to yell "WTFOMGBBQ!!" while other parts of me just sigh and say, "Yeah, he got away again. Go find him before he does something bad again. Yay for the government watching out for its' citizens. Sigh."

A high-risk sex offender with previous convictions for attempted murder, extortion, and weapons offenses is seen to be okay enough to release to a halfway house in Vancouver?

So tell me, just what in the *bleep* does this guy have to do in order to be considered dangerous enough to keep locked up?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Transitteer
and another thing . . .
109 Fans
 
05:59 PM on 04/06/2012
Hunt him down quickly. Lock him up, and throw away the key. What's he doing in a half-way house anyway? He's half-way to where? Terrorizing us again. Fix him permanently.
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Lisalu
388 Fans
05:57 PM on 04/06/2012
Any chance that once he's caught he will finally be put away for a long time? No eh?!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
piceaglauca
The picture says it all....
294 Fans
 
05:38 PM on 04/06/2012
What else is new with the criminal justice system here in Canada. It is like revolving doors. I'm sure he is enjoying his free time. First of all the sentencing is pretty weak, that's if you get to court. When you get sentenced the sentences are so reduced you treat it like a day trip. If you get sentenced you get days served because most of the crown / defence spend time in delay to make more money and attribute it to something else. Then of course if you finally do go to jail you get a room with a view and conjugal visits. To think this guy gets day trips and stay at home privileges and now he is AWOL looking for his next vicxtim. Wow! Let's face it this guy is all about him and the system should have known that before they made a decision to let him be where he was supose to be.
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