A high-risk sex offender who fled Canada last week has been located in Seattle.
Michael Stanley, 48, was found in the downtown core of the Washington State city after a search by police and the U.S. Marshal Service early Thursday morning,
He has now been ordered to register as a sex offender.
A spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department said officers can’t arrest Stanley because there is no information that he has committed any crimes in the U.S. – and Canadian authorities have declined to extradite him.
But Stanley could be arrested if he fails to register as a sex offender, a designation which means he’ll be forced to check in several times a week with U.S. law enforcement.
Stanley has a lengthy history of sexual offences against women and children dating back to 1987, and has already served a 32-month prison term for forcible confinement and assault.
The Parole Board of Canada determined that he posed a risk to reoffend and kept him behind bars until his warrant expiry date, the final day of his sentence, in 2011.
Before his flight, he was being monitored by police under a peace bond, which authorities use to impose conditions on individuals in the community.
His peace bond had 20 conditions, including one ordering him to stay away from children.
He had been missing since Oct. 1, after he cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
A massive manhunt was launched after his car was found in Lethbridge, Alta., and it was deemed the public may be in danger.
Stanley, an American citizen, has a long criminal history in the United States, but was admitted into the country by border guards at the Blaine, Wash., crossing south of Vancouver, on Oct. 7.
