Contrary to his last name, Michael Wiseman does not sound terribly sagacious.<\/p>\n
Learning from mistakes?<\/p>\n
Not this double fugitive \u2013 who was recently arrested in France following an investigation by the Scottsdale Police Department.<\/p>\n
Back in 2008, Scottsdale detectives followed complaints of suspicious activity around children with an investigation and subsequent arrest of Wiseman for sexual exploitation of a minor.<\/p>\n
Rather than face trial, he cut off a monitoring ankle bracelet and fled the country, living abroad for two years<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was applying for a pilot\u2019s license in Spain,\u201d said Scottsdale Police Sgt. Dustin Patrick. \u201cHis (potential) employer Googled him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to the employer\u2019s tip, the FBI hauled Wiseman back to Arizona, where he accepted a plea deal: two years in prison and \u201cprobation for the rest of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was released from confinement, the former airline pilot took off again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe fled to avoid probation,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cYou have to assume he was avoiding the stigma of being labeled a sex offender.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiseman was on the run for more than a decade, perhaps figuring he was safe under an assumed identity in Europe.<\/p>\n
But the Scottsdale Police Department refused to give up on the man they considered the city\u2019s second most-wanted fugitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the case in 2022,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his warrants for probation violation were relatively minor, Scottsdale detectives digitally tracked him down and discovered his criminal activity was continuing.<\/p>\n
They learned Wiseman fled to Vietnam and Poland before settling in France as \u201cRobert Danilewski.\u201d Patrick said he found a Facebook post of Wiseman while he was teaching in Vietnam; a deeper dive showed he adopted two children there before moving to Poland.<\/p>\n
Patrick and the Scottsdale team discovered a passport issued by the Polish embassy in Vietnam. They tracked Wiseman to an address in Poland \u2013 but cooperating authorities who knocked on his door there learned from neighbors Wiseman had just moved.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we knew was he moved to France,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cThe case went cold again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, earlier this year, Scottsdale detectives found a Google account that was being used to communicate to Wiseman.<\/p>\n
Subsequent international warrants written by Patrick were granted, with Google agreeing to turn over content of an email address linked to Wiseman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn October, we got access to content where (Wiseman) was sexually abusing a little boy,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n
Scottsdale quickly turned over the video to the FBI, who contacted French authorities.<\/p>\n
According to a Scottsdale Police press release, French law enforcement officers took Wiseman into custody Nov. 1, charging Wiseman with \u201crape and sexual assault of a minor under 15 years of age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiseman celebrated his 51st birthday Nov. 11 in a French jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is certainly facing prison time in France,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless he gets life in prison in France, he will be extradited and eventually be brought back here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick deflects praise for his efforts tracking down the fugitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is on a lot of warrants \u2013 but this was a team effort,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cWe had six detectives and an analyst working the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scottsdale Police Chief Joe LeDuc praised his detectives.<\/p>\n
\u201cNearly two decades ago, this individual fled from accountability,\u201d LeDuc said, after Wiseman\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur detectives never stopped working to bring him to justice. This arrest reflects years of persistence, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to protecting children.\u201d<\/p>\n
LeDuc noted his team worked closely with the FBI and other law enforcement partners on the complex case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the tireless dedication of law enforcement,\u201d added Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, \u201cjustice has finally caught up to this predator, and he isn\u2019t free to harm another child.\u201d<\/p>\n
BOX PLEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n Most Wanted<\/strong><\/p>\n If Wiseman was No. 2 \u2013 who is Scottsdale\u2019s \u201cMost Wanted\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cScottsdale PD\u2019s No. 1 most wanted is still Robert Fisher, who is the prime suspect in the murder of his wife and two children in 2001,\u201d Bolin said.<\/p>\n The No. 3 most wanted was Gloria Schulze \u2013 who died in Canada last year. Schulze was on the run for 30 years, fleeing charges she caused a traffic collision that killed 21-year-old Angela Maher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contrary to his last name, Michael Wiseman does not sound terribly sagacious. Learning from mistakes? Not this double…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":387093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,156,184657,184656,1589,123,7600,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-387092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-law-enforcement-officers","13":"tag-michael-wiseman","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-poland","16":"tag-scottsdale","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115569619417711371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}