British Columbia

High risk suspect Jason Anthony White represented 'indefinite' danger

An offender who is being investigated in connection with suspicious incidents at UBC and Oakridge was once described as posing an indefinite "high risk for sexual violence."

Court documents detail troubled criminal history of suspect who was caught on UBC grounds

Jason Anthony White was deemed a dangerous offender after being found guilty of violently sexually assaulting and robbing a 74-year-old woman. (Vancouver Police Department)

As police examine the movements of a high-risk offender prior to his capture at UBC, a review of Jason Anthony White's criminal history explains why he may be a suspect in a series of "night prowler" incidents on the university grounds.

Back in 1994, when he was known as Jason Eugene Rindero, White raped and terrorized a 74-year-old woman after breaking into her apartment. The victim, A.B., was less than five-feet tall.

"After the attack was over, A.B. was too exhausted to stand," then-Justice James Shabbits wrote in a 1999 judgment.

"She crawled out her front door, and across the hallway to a neighbour's door. Her neighbours took her to hospital."

A.B. never set foot in the apartment again.

Person of interest

Shabbits declared White a dangerous offender in 1999, but the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the decision in 2002 because the judge had failed to consider whether a less-restrictive sentence might control his behaviour.

He was eventually released on a long-term supervision order.

White's name arose last Thursday in connection with an attempted home invasion in the Oakridge area which sent an 86-year-old woman to hospital. The woman's hand was broken in the struggle.

UBC RCMP told students walking alone on campus at night to be aware of their surroundings following a violent attack on a student in March. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Police released pictures of a suspect and described White a person of interest in their investigation.

He was arrested at a construction site on the UBC campus early Saturday morning.

In recent weeks, the university has issued campus safety alerts following a series of suspicious incidents involving someone who lurked around the female shower and residences late at night.

Then, a woman was sexually assaulted by an unknown man at the end of March. The suspect emerged from a wooded area, threw the victim to the ground and rubbed his midsection against her.

The suspect in that case was described as being in his twenties and dark-skinned.

Nevertheless, police have said they will be reviewing White's movements for the past few months in relation to incidents spanning a number of jurisdictions.

Need for lifelong supervision

According to the posted court judgments, White was raised in Ladysmith in a deeply religious family.

His criminal history dates back to his youth, when he committed a series of sexually-motivated attacks on victims ranging from 11 to 64.

As an adult, prior to the attack on A.B., he established a pattern of breaking into people's homes while they were sleeping.

In a number of incidents, couples woke up to find him in their bedrooms; he lifted the covers off one woman and rummaged through the purse of another.

In designating White a dangerous offender, Shabbits accepted psychiatric evidence that White had multiple paraphila, or abnormal sexual desires.

"There can never be more than hope that it will be controlled," he wrote.

"I have no doubt but that Mr. Rindero must be controlled for the remainder of his life."