Canadian Sex Predator Escapes into US
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ABC News(SEATTLE) — A violent, high risk sex offender who cut away his monitoring bracelet and slipped away from Canadian officials has escaped into the United States. But the offender, Michael Sean Stanley, 48, cannot be arrested in the U.S. because he is not wanted on any charges here, officials said.
Stanley, who has been missing for more than a week, has a long history of sexual offenses against women and children. He served nine years for assault on an 82-year-old woman in a wheelchair. Later, he was convicted of assaulting two young boys.
He had been released from prison in April 2011 after completing a 32 month sentence for assault and was being monitored by police under a “peace bond,” which had 20 conditions, including staying away from children. He was also ordered to wear a monitoring bracelet. Stanley cut of his monitoring bracelet and disappeared on Oct. 1, police said.
After multiple reported sightings last week in Canada, east of Edmonton, schools were put on lockdown.
Authorities now say Stanley apparently crossed into Washington state from Vancouver on Oct. 7. They had alerted border authorities, but say he somehow slipped through.
“Specifically, we have no authority to go get him,” said Chris Hayduk, of the Edmonton Police Service. “We are investigating his crossing, taking a look at the details of his crossing, into the United States… For us, it would have been the best outcome to have caught him before that. So for him to be in the States is a concern that those agencies are going to follow up for sure.”
“We had some speculation that he may try to cross at some point, so the fact that he did cross is not a surprise to us,” said Hayduk.
Authorities believe they know Stanley’s location, but police in the U.S. can’t arrest him because they don’t have a warrant. Canadian police are hopeful that will soon change.
ABC News has reached out to U.S. officials about the missing criminal, but questions have gone unanswered due to the federal government shutdown.
“The breach of recognizance charge that have been laid here in Canada is an extraditable offense,” criminal attorney Don MacLeod said.
Canadian officials say the cross border bureaucracy, which has so far slowed them down, won’t stop them from getting a man they call dangerous, off the streets — on one side of the border, or the other.
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