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In 1997, he was convicted as an adult and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In December 2008, soon after his third release — he had breached his conditions on two prior releases already — Fash breached his conditions to stay away from alcohol and drugs, prompting police to issue a warrant for him. When they went to pick him up at the halfway house where he was staying, he fled through a back door.

At the time, Fash’s mother approached the media, asking for a stop to coverage of her son’s case and saying it would have negative effects on his daughter. She also said the media attention was the reason he fled police.

But colleagues of his victims said Fash, who had been described by a top sex crimes police investigator as one of the two worst sex offenders he’d ever dealt with, should not have been paroled at all.

On New Year’s Day 2009, Fash entered a Vancouver police station and turned himself in after a month-long manhunt.

Six months later, police were once again warning Edmonton residents that Fash would be released into the city, describing him as “a violent sexual offender who poses a risk of significant harm to the community and, in particular, adult females.”

Less than a year after that, Fash was again in court, having breached a court-ordered peace bond for high-risk offenders that allowed police to keep close tabs on him.

Fash had been approached by police officers investigating a mischief report. He gave them his identification, but while officers were speaking with another man, Fash fled the scene. He was picked up the following day and found to be in possession of crack cocaine.