Repeat offender charged after 14-year-old sexually assaulted during crime spree in Vancouver office building

A Surrey man is facing charges related to an alleged violent crime spree, including sexual assaulting a minor and an attempted bank robbery, in a Vancouver building Wednesday.

The Vancouver Police Department says it responded to a 911 call around 5:40 p.m. reporting sexual assault in an office building near Oakridge Centre at Cambie Street and West 41st Avenue.

Police say the events started at 5:15 p.m., when a 58-year-old woman alleges she was grabbed by a stranger while leaving a medical appointment in the building.

“She screamed and managed to get away without serious physical injury,” the VPD explained in a statement Friday.

Minutes later, police say a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a stranger who confined her to a public washroom in the same building while threatening her with a knife.

“The suspect escaped after another person tried to enter the washroom as the sexual assault was taking place.”

Shortly after, a man entered a bank on the main floor of the building and allegedly committed a robbery, police say.

That’s when VPD officers arrived and arrested a suspect.

Now, 62-year-old John Frederick Field of Surrey is facing five criminal charges, including sexual assault with a weapon against a person under 16, forcible confinement, and carrying a concealed weapon, as well as robbery and assault.

Const. Tania Visintin says the 14-year-old girl was immensely brave and gave 911 dispatchers a detailed description of the suspect, though she had just gone through a horrifying experience.

“We commend her for that. It allowed us to find him right away and arrest him and put him in jail,” said Visintin.

Field has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple previous sexual assault convictions.

In August 2022, he was arrested on a Canada-wide warrant after he failed to return to his halfway house.

At the time, the VPD said that Field posed a “significant risk to the public.”

On Friday, Visintin said she understands the public’s frustration around repeat offenders and notes that, in this case, the suspect had fully served his previous sentence.

Police say Field is in custody, and court records show he is expected to appear in court on June 12.