BURST
A high-risk sex offender, who was released from prison in April to live in a halfway house in Vancouver , has again been charged with sexual assault after he allegedly groped a teenager in Surrey, one day after he was released.
Transit Police say 30-year-old Hayden McCorriston was arrested after a 17-year-old girl was groped after she disembarked at the Gateway SkyTrain Station on April 18, shortly before 9 p.m.
A day earlier — on April 17 — Vancouver police issued a warning about McCorriston living in Vancouver because he posed a significant threat to the community.
However, he absconded on the first day of his release from prison on sex charges. Vancouver police arrested him four days later.
Investigators allege the teenage girl was followed by McCorriston, who groped her before running away.
Police say the teen approached other passengers for help before the man fled. Transit Police later arrested McCorriston and he has now been charged again with sexual assault.
He remains in custody.
In spring 2022, McCorriston committed more than a dozen crimes during a four-day spree in Burnaby and Vancouver. During the four days he was linked to at least three sex assaults in the Metrotown area where he slapped women on the buttocks and then fled.
He was arrested on April 3, 2022, after he robbed an elderly couple at a Metrotown-area bank and caught the attention of three mall security guards who took him into custody.
Later that year McCorriston pleaded guilty to five counts of sex assault, two counts of assault, one count of assault by choking, one count of indecent act, and one count of robbery.
He’s serving a three-year, two month sentence. Although he was still serving his sentence in April, the Parole Board of Canada granted him statutory release to live at a halfway house in Vancouver.
“Vancouver police believe McCorriston poses significant risk of harm to the community and is a high risk to commit further physical and sexual violence,” read the VPD warning on April 17.
That same night, McCorriston didn’t return to the halfway house, despite a court-ordered curfew. McCorriston was found on April 21 by members of the VPD’s Chronic Offender Unit at Granville and Robson streets.
The VPD said at the time that it would work with federal police to monitor McCorriston’s activities.
With files from Stephanie Ip and David Carrigg