Convicted rapist arrested after failing to return to Vancouver halfway house

VANCOUVER – A two-time federal offender and a convicted rapist has been arrested after failing to return to his Vancouver halfway house on Jan. 18.

According to a statement from Vancouver Police, Marcel Joseph Parent was picked up by police near Parksville on Monday and arrested for being unlawfully at large.

Parent, 37, served time for sexual assault with a weapon, armed robbery, forcible confinement, uttering threats to cause death or harm, and possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose.

He was released from jail last April and one of his victims told Global Calgary they feared he may strike again.

“I had bruises all over my body,” remembers his first victim, who Global News is identifying only as Lisa. “He sexually assaulted me, he sodomized me.

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“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through in my life.”

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Parent was sentenced to only two-and-a-half years in that case, and soon after his release in 2008 he attacked another woman, also at a tanning salon.

WATCH: Repeat rapist released in Vancouver:

– With files from Global Calgary