LETHBRIDGE — Police are warning that a violent, high-risk offender may be in southern Alberta.
Michael Sean Stanley, who is 48, has been the subject of a multi-province search.
Stanley, who has a long history of sexual offences against woman and children, cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet on Oct. 1 in Lloydminster.
Police say Stanley has family ties in Lethbridge, Alta., and earlier Monday, Stanley’s vehicle, a purple Chevrolet Blazer, was seized from a west-side home.
Lethbridge police say they have confirmed that Stanley was in the city on Friday, but they don’t know where he is now.
Police are warning the public that he may be in the area and to call them if they see him.
“Mr. Stanley poses a significant risk to the community and we are advising everyone to be vigilant about their safety, but not to take any vigilante action,” Lethbridge police said in a news release Monday afternoon.
Stanley is described as about five feet, nine inches tall, 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Last week, schools in several west-central Saskatchewan communities locked their doors and kept children inside after Mounties got multiple, unconfirmed sightings of the Edmonton man.
Schools in Lloydminster, Kindersley, Coleville, Eston, Marengo, Eatonia and Plenty went into what police called “hold and secure” mode, which meant children were locked in the building during the day and parents had to pick up their kids when classes ended.
Mounties also said there was a possible sighting of Stanley in Rosetown.
Over the weekend, Saskatchewan RCMP say they got more than 25 reports of possible sightings of Stanley from across the province.
The sightings were of the purple Blazer or of someone resembling Stanley.
Police said none of the sightings has been confirmed and several proved to be false.
Mounties say a school in Beechy, Sask., was in hold and secure mode Monday due to a possible sighting of Stanley on Friday near the small community.
Stanley is on Alberta’s high-risk offender list.
He was released from jail in April 2011 after completing a 32-month sentence for assault and forcible confinement, according to Edmonton police at the time.
That advisory said Stanley is considered by police to be “an untreated violent and sexual offender who poses a risk of significant harm to the community.”
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 that he stay away from children.