A federal offender wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for breaching his long-term supervisor order has a long history of violence crimes and was declared a dangerous offender by a Barrie judge more than a decade ago.
Derek Powell, 54, is described as a white male, standing five-foot-eight and weighing 260 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes.
Police say he’s known to frequent the Greater Toronto Area, Peterborough, Simcoe County, York Region and Durham Region.
Powell had been placed on a 10-year, long-term supervision order after being designated a dangerous offender on July 11, 2012, first serving a sentence of 10 years, minus two years credit for pre-sentence custody.
He had been convicted of two counts each of assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, assaulting a peace officer, three counts of threatening to cause death or harm, one of mischief and five counts of failing to comply with a probation order.
During the previous two decades, Powell had been in and out of jail on a variety of charges, including drunk driving, assault, threatening, forcible confinement, robbery, failing to comply with orders, fraud, possession, and obstructing and fleeing from police.
The original conviction which led to the dangerous offender designation dates back to Jan. 22, 2010, when a girlfriend picked him up after he served a jail term. He moved into her bedroom and soon started assaulting her.
During a phone call, the girlfriend's sister heard him threatening to cut her up and kill everyone. The sister contacted police, who found the woman “suffering from obvious injuries,” according to a summary in a decision issued March 31, 2023.
Police then learned he had used a frying pan and a broom in an earlier violent attack on the woman in which he also kicked her when she fell to the floor and threatened to throw her off a balcony if police were called.
When he was in the police holding area, he spat on a police officer, stuck him in the face and grabbed an officer’s notebook and ripped it up.
Powell was charged in October 2021 with breaching his long-term supervision order for using cocaine and sentenced two months later to 110 days, following credit for time served.
Last December, Powell received a statutory release to a community correctional centre. A statutory release is when someone serving time in a federal correctional centre is automatically released from custody to serve the last third of their sentence in the community. In January, he resumed his long-term supervisory order.
Powell is serving a long-term supervision order of seven years, six months and 16 days for assault with a weapon, two counts of threatening death and bodily harm, two counts of forcible confinement, two counts of assaulting a peace officer, mischief and four counts of failing to comply with probation order.
Anyone having contact with Powell or information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact the Provincial R.O.P.E. Squad at 416-808-5900 or toll free at 1-866-870-7673 (ROPE) or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or call 9-1-1.
