A man labelled a long-term offender was taken into custody last Thursday morning for allegedly breaking a condition of his statutory release.

In a statement released last Friday afternoon, M-division RCMP said John Walter Sam, 42, was refusing to meet with his risk management committee, which meets with and monitors Sam while he's under conditions of his statutory release.

A statutory release is different from parole in that it is a mandatory release after an offender has served two-thirds of his or her sentence, Evelyn Blair, a spokeswoman for the National Parole Board's Pacific region, said Friday.

The risk management committee is made up of an RCMP representative, Sam's release officer, a sex offender treatment counsellor and Sam's support person.

Sam was arrested last Thursday without incident.

Blair noted that when there is such an arrest, Corrections Services Canada is the first to consider the case before it comes to the National Parole Board.

Dennis Findlay, a spokesman for Corrections Services Canada, said this morning in such cases, his agency has 30 days to look at the matter and circumstances of the arrest.

It must then decide whether to cancel the arrest and put the offender back in the community to continue serving his or her sentence or to make a recommendation to the parole board.

The board could look at revoking the offender's statutory release or changing the conditions of the release in the community.

In October, police sent out a public notification stating Sam was planning to return to Whitehorse after serving his sentence from a charge dating back to July 2005.

Last February, Sam was sentenced to 27 months for escaping and being at large and for breaching his supervision order. He received two-to-one credit for the 7 1/2 months he spent in pre-trial custody.

Sam first moved back to Whitehorse in 2005 after serving his 2002 sentence of 3 1/2 years for fondling a young girl. He was also deemed a long-term offender in 2002.

In addition to meeting with his risk management committee, before being taken into custody, Sam also had to abide by the following conditions:

• to live at a community residential facility and follow the rules imposed there, such as curfews;

• to abstain from all intoxicants;

• have no contact with children under 18 unless supervised by an adult approved in advance by his parole officer;

• follow psychological counselling and/or psychiatric treatment; and

• participate in the community sex offender program.

He was also forbidden from:

• walking on trails (he must remain visible when walking on main roadways);

• driving a vehicle; and

• dressing as a woman.