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October 10, 2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BLAINE — Canadian police say a violent, high-risk sex offender who has been missing for more than a week has been located in the United States, but he can’t be arrested because he’s not wanted on any charges in the U.S.
Edmonton, Alberta, Detective Chris Hayduk said U.S. border officials were warned that Michael Sean Stanley might try to cross into their country, but Stanley still managed to make it through at Blaine on Monday night, Oct. 7.
“We have no authority to go get him,” Hayduk said Thursday. “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 prior to that, so for him to be in the States is a concern that those agencies are going to follow up for sure.”
The Canada Border Services Agency referred calls on the matter to U.S. officials. The Washington-based spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was not returning phone messages because of the federal government shutdown and an email seeking comment wasn’t immediately answered.
Stanley has a long history of sexual offenses against women and children and has been missing since Oct. 1, when the electronic monitoring bracelet he was wearing was cut off and found in Lloydminster, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.
Last week, schools in several west-central Saskatchewan communities locked their doors and kept children inside after police got multiple, unconfirmed sightings of the Edmonton man.
He’s wanted in Canada on charges of breach of recognizance and mischief and driving offenses, but he isn’t wanted in the United States, so Hayduk said police have no authority to arrest him.
“The extradition process — we are still exploring those options,” he said.
Hayduk said officers know Stanley’s specific whereabouts, but he wouldn’t release those details.
“We can take some comfort that police know where he is and will be taking the appropriate steps to ensure the communities remain safe.”
Hayduk said there is no evidence that Stanley has reoffended while he has remained elusive. “At this point it looks like he was just fleeing from us,” he said.
Stanley was released from jail in April 2011 after completing a 32-month sentence for assault and forcible confinement.
Stanley was being monitored by police under a peace bond, which authorities can get to impose conditions on individuals in the community. His peace bond has 20 conditions, including one ordering him to stay away from children.
