Victoria cabbie honoured for helping catch dangerous fugitive sex offender

A Victoria taxi driver was honoured with a prestigious award on Friday for his role in helping capture a dangerous, fugitive sex offender.

Blue Bird Taxi driver Mohammad Fadin Rashead is credited with leading police to Scott Jones last Sunday.

Jones, a convicted sex offender who has been designated a dangerous offender, had been unlawfully at large for three days.

As a passenger in Rashead’s cab, Jones had asked the driver to go into a store and buy him clothes because he was on the run from police. Rashead went into the store and called 911 instead.

On Friday, Victoria Police Chief Del Manak presented Rashead with the Civic Service Award, which is presented to citizens who go above and beyond to protect public safety.

“I felt I have to do my duty as a Canadian citizen, and this is what I did,” said Rashead, a 15-year taxi veteran.

“I think (anyone else) would do the same thing, the same thing that I did.”

Rashead told reporters that Jones was acting suspicious when get got into the taxi, and that he quickly realized it was the same man who the taxi company had previously circulated a description about.

He also thanked police, who he said arrived about two minutes after the 911 call and arrested Jones — though not before the fugitive tried to light a fire in his taxi.

Manak said in the days Jones was at large he posed a “significant” threat to public safety, prompting a massive police search.

Rashead did the public a great service by turning him in, he added.

“The fact that he had the presence of mind to recognize who he had in his taxi, and go into the store and, you know, at personal risk ends up making that call to 911 … I’m just extremely proud of what he did,” he said.

“What else I find striking is how humble he is. You know, his cab got damaged because police in the end had to break the window as Mr. Jones lit the inside of the cab on fire … so it comes at a cost to Mr. Rashead,” he added.

That didn’t seem to deter the cabbie, who was unambiguous in how he felt about the incident.

“I am very proud,” he said. “I’d do it again.”

Along with the award, Rashead’s name will now join those of other citizens and police officers who have been recognized for meritorious service in a special hall at Victoria Police Headquarters.

Corrections officials have not shared details of how Jones became “unlawfully at large,” given his dangerous offender designation, which comes with an indeterminate sentence.

Court records show Jones served five years in prison for rape, gross indecency, and the attempted rape of three girls.

While on parole, he was charged with three counts of sexual assault with a weapon and three counts of unlawful confinement.

However before disappearing last Friday he was last seen on the same block as a well-known Victoria halfway house.