Surrey mayor says high-risk offenders not welcome in city

Surrey’s mayor says she is concerned after two high-risk offenders have been released into the community in two days.

According to news releases from the Surrey Police Service, 49-year-old Jonathon Anders Muzychka, a designated high-risk offender who has a history of violence towards people and property crime, will be living in Surrey.

Police said he will be subject to conditions and will be under electronic surveillance.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Muzychka killed a man during a robbery in 2008 and escaped from jail following his arrest.

In 2021, he was wanted by Victoria police for failing to return to his halfway house.

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In addition, Skylar Wayne Pelletier, 26, a designated high-risk offender who has a history of violent and sexual offences towards people, including offences towards females, will be residing in Surrey.

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Global News spoke to Pelletier on Wednesday, who said he has been living at a facility in Surrey for a few days.

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He is under a five-year-long term supervision order for sexual assault, assault and break and enter.

Police said he is also subject to conditions and electronic monitoring.

When asked if people should be concerned about him, Pelletier said, “I don’t know, it’s what they think, right? It’s up to them. It’s not my decision. I don’t make decisions for them, right?”

Surrey’s mayor said the two men are not welcome in Surrey.

“It’s very concerning,” Brenda Locke said.

“It feels to me like there’s an extraordinary number coming to Surrey, so that is a concern.”

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, media relations officer for the Surrey Police Service, said two offenders in the span of two days is unsettling, but the timing is coincidental.

He said officers meet with offenders when they move into the city if there is going to be a disclosure of public interest.

“We meet them and advise them that our officers are checking in on them,” Houghton said. “We work very closely with the residents that they are assigned to by the courts and their supervisors as well; some of the offenders have a condition often to report to police.”

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Houghton added that officers also work with bail and parole supervisors to make sure those conditions are being met.

The New Vision Society also told Global News its offenders are under heavy supervision.

“We’re trying to give these individuals a chance, right, to rehabilitate, to learn new life skills, to change their thinking, their behaviour, be able to grapple with emotions better,” Jackson Leathem with the New Vision Society said.

“It’s important to give these people a fighting chance at rebuilding a new life for themselves.”

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In February, high-risk sex offender Marinus Willemse’s move to Surrey sparked a police warning.

The 58-year-old with multiple convictions, including abducting a child and sexual assault with a weapon, breached his release within a month and was sent to Winnipeg, where he was the subject of another police warning.

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In April, the public was notified about 42-year-old Nathanial Odorjan’s presence in Surrey.

The high-risk offender, with a history of offences towards women and girls, is accused of breaching his release less than a month later.

Odorjan is now wanted and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Pelletier said he is now making progress in Surrey.

“You obviously don’t want to go to jail again,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s not for me, right? It’s not my thing; I don’t like being in that place. I prefer to stay out in the community.”