Sex offender from Canada pleads guilty to misdemeanour charges in US court

SEATTLE – A sex offender who fled Canada pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Seattle court to misdemeanour charges of harassment and resisting arrest.

The Seattle Times reports (http://bit.ly/1b0e7It) that 48-year-old Michael Sean Stanley was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with 154 days of that sentence suspended. He was also given credit for time served since his arrest in October.

“I got to be responsible for an action,” the paper quoted Stanley as telling the court. “I do need to do something about treatment. Once I get the treatment I think everything is going to work out.”

Seattle police arrested Stanley early on the morning of Oct. 22 after a series of calls about noise in a west Seattle alley.

Stanley was accused of threatening someone who asked him to be quiet.

When officers arrived, the police report said Stanley appeared intoxicated, crawled out of a trash bin and became combative.

After his arrest, Stanley was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. Authorities said he met a boy at a west Seattle grocery store, struck up a conversation and walked with him to an alley where he plied the teen with alcohol and attacked him. The boy pulled a knife and was able to escape.

The Times said that allegation is still under investigation.

Police in Edmonton issued a public warning at the beginning of October when they found that Stanley’s electronic-monitoring bracelet had been cut off in Lloydminster, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.

Edmonton police said they warned U.S. counterparts that Stanley, who is an American citizen, might try to cross the border, but U.S. officials allowed him in after determining he was not the subject of an extraditable arrest warrant.

Alberta Justice then announced it would not seek Stanley’s extradition to Canada because the breach of recognizance, mischief and driving charges he faced north of the border didn’t “warrant engaging the extradition process.”

Stanley’s criminal record in Canada dates back to 1987.

He last received a 32-month prison term for assault and forcible confinement involving two mentally challenged boys. Parole Board records say he lured the boys into a washroom, blew crack smoke in their faces and then sexually assaulted them.

Parole records also detail the sexual assault of an elderly woman and charges he exposed himself to kids.

In an interview with TV station KIRO shortly after surfacing in Seattle, Stanley denied responsibility for many of his convictions in Canada and said he just wanted to start a new life in the U.S.

“I said I had enough. I’m leaving this country because it hasn’t been good to me,” Stanley said at the time. “All they’ve been doing is belittle me, shafting me, making me look like I’m some kind of menace, some creep, some pedophile, some kind of guy that didn’t deserve to be out in the community.”