High-risk sex offender charged with Osborne Village apartment break-ins

A convicted, high-risk sex offender has been arrested for allegedly breaking into several Osborne Village apartments last month, court records show.

Winnipeg Police Service property crime investigators were alerted to the series of break-ins in September.

Investigators learned that three break-and-enters occurred Sept. 13-14 at apartments on the 200 block of Stradbrook Avenue; a suspect got inside via a window.

In two of the break-ins, police said, the suspect fled after encountering the residents inside their homes. Nothing was stolen and no one was hurt in any of the incidents.

Police spokesman Const. Pat Saydak said the break-ins occurred in different apartment buildings.

Property crime investigators identified a suspect and patrol officers picked him up walking down the 200 block of Princess Street Tuesday morning.

Curtis Leroy George, 34, has been charged with three counts of break-and-enter and four of failing to comply with a probation order.

Saydak would not comment on George’s past, but court records confirm George has a lengthy record of sexual violence.

His record includes six different sex assault convictions, a criminal harassment conviction and one conviction each of sexual interference and committing an indecent act, along with several other violent offences.

George was released from Milner Ridge provincial jail in February, where he was serving a sexual assault sentence of 540 days behind bars, less time served pre-trial, and 18 months of supervised probation.

Officials from the Manitoba Integrated High-Risk Sex Offender Unit — a joint effort of the Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba RCMP — warned the public about his most recent release from jail earlier this year.

George sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Thompson on Jan. 14 last year, by standing “very close” to her for a period of time, before sexually touching, justice officials said earlier this year.

He quickly walked away, but remained nearby and stared at the victim before following her as she ran to her vehicle.

At the time of the sex assault in Thompson, George was also breaching his probation order by having contact with children under 16 without approval from probation officials.

In 2022, he was convicted of committing an indecent act by exposing himself to a woman who was with her young daughter at a bus stop.

In 2018, George was convicted of criminal harassment for stalking, harassing and exposing himself to a woman repeatedly near her workplace and the surrounding area over the course of nearly two years.

In 2011, he was convicted of sexual interference for a case involving sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl, and five counts of sexual assault he committed on random women who were out walking or jogging.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca