Surrey mayor says high-risk offenders are not welcome in the city

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says two designated high-risk offenders released to live in the city over two days are not welcome and have raised concerns. She said it feels as though an extraordinary number of such offenders are coming to Surrey.

Surrey Police Service said 49-year-old Jonathon Anders Muzychka, who has a history of violence against people and property crime, will live in Surrey under conditions and electronic surveillance. The Winnipeg Free Press reported that Muzychka killed a man during a 2008 robbery and escaped from jail after his arrest. Victoria police sought him in 2021 after he failed to return to his halfway house.

Police also said 26-year-old Skylar Wayne Pelletier, who has a history of violent and sexual offences against people, including offences against females, will reside in Surrey. Pelletier told Global News on Wednesday that he had been living at a Surrey facility for several days. He is subject to a five-year long-term supervision order for sexual assault, assault and break and enter, as well as conditions and electronic monitoring.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, the Surrey Police Service media relations officer, said the timing of the two releases was coincidental, though unsettling. He said officers meet offenders moving into the city when a public-interest disclosure will be made, advise them that police will check in, and work with court-assigned residences, supervisors, and bail and parole supervisors to ensure conditions are met.

Jackson Leathem of the New Vision Society said its offenders are under heavy supervision while being given an opportunity to rehabilitate, learn life skills, change their thinking and behaviour, and better manage emotions. Pelletier said he is making progress in Surrey and wants to remain in the community rather than return to jail.

Earlier cases have also prompted police warnings. In February, high-risk sex offender Marinus Willemse moved to Surrey; the 58-year-old, who had multiple convictions including child abduction and sexual assault with a weapon, breached his release within a month and was sent to Winnipeg, where police issued another warning. In April, the public was notified that 42-year-old Nathanial Odorjan, a high-risk offender with a history of offences against women and girls, was in Surrey. He was accused of breaching his release less than a month later and is now wanted, with his whereabouts unknown.