West Shore RCMP have recaptured a dangerous high-risk sex offender who was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for being unlawfully at large.
On September 25th, the Victoria Police issued an alert warning residents that 56-year-old Scott Jones was at large in the community.
Jones was caught in Langford Sunday morning with the help of a quick-thinking taxi driver.
According to a media release from RCMP, at around 9:20 a.m., police received a call from Mohammed Rashead, a taxi driver with Blue Bird, who told police a man had given him money and asked him to go inside the Superstore on Langford Parkway to buy new clothes for him.
The man told the cabbie he couldn’t go inside himself, because he was sought by police, according to an RCMP media release.
Following this, the cab driver alerted the RCMP of Jones’ whereabouts.
West Shore RCMP Const. Meighan Massey arrived at the scene and recognized Jones from the alert issued by VicPD.
When Jones noticed Massey approaching, he proceeded to barricade himself in the taxi and tried to light the upholstery on fire, said Const. Nancy Saggar, media relations for West Shore RCMP.
Constable Massey then smashed the window and arrested him.
After the arrest, Rashead told RCMP: “I did my duty as a citizen and am happy I helped the RCMP catch such a dangerous man.”
West Shore RCMP arrested Jones for being unlawfully at large as well as mischief for the damaged caused by the fire to the inside of the cab. Thankfully no one was injured in this incident.
According to court documents, Jones served five years in prison for rape, gross indecency, and the attempted rape of three girls aged 10, 12 and 13 in 1982. When the police sought to arrest Jones for these incidents, he confronted them with a loaded shotgun.
In 1986, while on parole, he was charged with three counts of sexual assault with a weapon and three counts of unlawful confinement for the following:
- On October 24, 1986, Jones sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman, having forced her into his car and confined her there.
- Jones was alleged to have committed a sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl on October 26, 1986.
- On November 5, one day after being questioned for the earlier sexual assaults, Jones sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl at knifepoint.
He was charged with three counts of sexual assault with a weapon and three counts of unlawful confinement.
Jones has since been transferred to Victoria police custody.
It is unclear what conditions Jones was under when he became at large.
