Warning: This story discusses sexual assault that may be triggering for some readers.
A 62-year-old man from Surrey has been charged in connection with the sexual assault of a teenage girl in a public bathroom and a crime spree in Vancouver, police say.
John Frederick Field has been charged with sexual assault with a weapon against a person under 16, forcible confinement, carrying a concealed weapon, robbery and assault.
Police say the crime spree is believed to have started at around 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday (May 28) inside an office building near Oakridge Centre at Cambie Street and West 41st Avenue, where a 58-year-old woman "was leaving a medical appointment when she was grabbed in the hallway and assaulted by a stranger. She screamed and managed to get away without serious physical injury," read a release from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).
"Minutes later, a 14-year-old girl was using a public washroom in the same building when she was sexually assaulted and forcibly confined by a stranger who was armed with knife. The suspect escaped after another person tried to enter the washroom as the sexual assault was taking place," read the release.
Multiple people called 9-1-1 to report the sexual assault.
The suspect then allegedly entered a bank on the ground floor of the same building and robbed it.
"In a time of stress, probably the absolute worst time of any woman's or young girl's life, this is the biggest fear, she was able to give such a detailed description that as officers were pulling up on scene, they picked him off immediately," VPD Const. Tania Visintin during a press conference Friday (May 31).
Field was arrested around 5:40 p.m.
He remains in police custody until his next court appearance on June 12.
Field's has a long list of criminal convictions and was on probation at the time of the sexual assault.
that in 2024, he was convicted of sexual assault of a health care worker and committing an indecent act. He was getting an ECG at St. Paul's Hospital when the assault happened. He was sentenced to 30 months and one day in prison, but received 26 months and 29 days of credit for time served. He also has sexual assault convictions from 1989 and 2020.
On Aug. 21, 2020, Justice Crabtree sentenced Field to 275 days for the sexual assault, 276 days for the break and enter, and 275 days for the robbery, all to run consecutively. The sentence was, in effect, six years, with two years and three months of more time in prison in addition to time served.
At the time of the 2020 sentencing, Field had spent 32 of his 40 adult years behind bars
Police ask for anyone with information who has not spoken to them to call 604-717-0602.
