A violent sex offender who fled from Canada is suspected of sexually-assaulting a 16-year-old boy Tuesday morning in West Seattle.
Seattle police learned of the alleged assault after arresting Michael Sean Stanley on an unrelated charge.
Det. Mark Jamieson said officers took Stanley into custody behind the Admiral Theater. Stanley was intoxicated, belligerent, and combative, Jamieson said.
After police booked Stanley on harrasment charges, they received a call from the 16-year-old victim.
Stanley, a U.S. citizen, had been on the radar of local law enforcement since he recently cut off his GPS monitor in Alberta and entered the U.S. at Blaine.
But because Canada had not sought extradition, American authorities could not detain him before Tuesday’s incident.
Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office said she could not recall something like this happening before —authorities in a different jurisdiction alerting authorities that someone might be dangerous but then deciding "they didn't want him."
"He can be the most violent person in the world, but if he doesn’t have a warrant out and he has not committed a crime, we can’t arrest him," she said.
