B.C. child abductor Randall Hopley pleads guilty
Admits he snatched 3-year-old Kienan Hebert from his home in the middle of the night
A man accused in the abduction of a three-year-old boy in B.C. last year has pleaded guilty to charges against him.
The boy was returned to his home unharmed a few days after he'd been taken in the middle of the night.
Randall Hopley entered guilty pleas in court in Cranbrook, B.C., Monday, to charges of abduction and breaking and entering with the purpose of committing an indictable offence.
Hopley pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, a charge the Crown is expected to drop.
In the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2011, Hopley entered a home in Sparwood, B.C., and abducted Kienan Hebert.
Hebert's parents found him missing in the morning, triggering a massive police and volunteer hunt for the boy in the area, about 150 kilometres southwest of Calgary.
As mysteriously as he vanished, the boy reappeared in his family's home in the middle of the night four days later, apparently unharmed.
Police identified Hopley as a suspect even before the boy was returned home.
He was arrested about a week later in the Crowsnest Lake area of Alberta and charged with breaking and entering and abduction.
In an exclusive interview after the boy was returned, Hebert's parents told CBC News reporter Ian Hanomansing that they had met with Hopley, who had reassured them that their son had not been sexually abused during the abduction.
Hopley had a previous conviction for sexually assaulting a five-year-old boy in 1985.With files from the CBC's Bob Keating and Anna Lee Grant of the Cranbrook Townsman