PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Michael Edward Harris, a fugitive US Army sergeant wanted on child pornography charges, is believed to be trying to escape a national manhunt by hiding in Phnom Penh, a metropolis of 2 million people.

With his photo now posted at all of Cambodia’s land crossings, Mr. Harris will have a hard time escaping the nation in his customized black motorcycle. With his US passport canceled, he will have a hard time flying out of Cambodia’s two international airports.

With his photos now spread across the internet and a $2,150 bounty on his head, the fugitive US Army sergeant, who trained in military counterintelligence, is undoubtedly lying low. Unconfirmed sightings on Riverside of Mr. Harris,  a burly 34-year-old man  with Asian tattoos, may be products of fevered imaginations.

“We already know that suspect can stay anywhere, and we are finding out where to arrest him,” Uk Hai Sela, chief investigator at the Interior Ministry’s Immigration Department  told the Khmer Times. “But we cannot give detailed information about where the suspect is staying because we are concerned he may escape again.”

“For example, unfortunately, after we gave  information to The Cambodia Daily newspaper about the suspect staying in Sihanouk province,  the suspect  became aware and fled to other places,” the police investigator said.

In response, Simon Henderson, the reporter on the first story, said there was no contact between the Daily and the suspect. 

“All we did was report what was already out there and available from social media,” Henderson told the Khmer Times. “We did nothing wrong.”

In Sihanoukville, Mr. Harris’ landlord and employer, a Sihanoukville dog training company, have said he abruptly disappeared early Wednesday morning.

Photos posted on the internet indicate that Mr. Harris fled his Sihanoukville apartment in haste: dirty dishes  in the sink, a half-packed suitcase on the floor, condoms scattered by a well-worn Bible, and stacks of his business cards, reading Mike Dobbs, K9 Cambodia.

Mr. Harris apparently had been in Cambodia since January 17, living under an alias – Mike Dobbs.

In March of 2013, he was arrested in Orlando, Florida and charged with 44 counts of possessing child pornography. Arrest warrants have been issued for those charges, as well as crimes including indecent acts upon children, forced sodomy, and desertion from the military.

Two weeks before his Jan. 28 trial date, Mr. Harris fled Florida and the United States. According to the US State Department, he entered Cambodia on Jan. 17. In February, he was listed by the US Army as absent without leave (AWOL) and formally charged with desertion. He is now on the Army’s top 20 most wanted list and Army investigators are working to track him down.

Mr. Harris’ ex-wife, Denise Diaz, is pushing authorities to find him. She says that her two children, from an earlier marriage, were victims of child abuse by Mr. Harris at the time of their marriage, over 10 years ago. A former police officer, Denise runs from her home in Kentucky a Facebook page: “Fugitive Michael Harris Bring Him to Justice.” 

She has set up a fundraising page for a reward to be paid to whoever delivers Mr. Harris to the American Embassy in Phnom Penh. As of Monday night, the reward was $2,125.

“The reward is not vindictive, nor is it a campaign,” Ms. Diaz said in a Facebook exchange with the Khmer Times. “My family and the other children’s families were all robbed of due process.”

“If Mr. Harris wanted his due process, he should have stayed in the US and not fled the country,” Ms. Diaz said in a statement on Facebook. “He took away due process from all of his victims in doing so. I would say it is very safe to say that no one knew Michael Harris aka Mike Dobbs aka Edward Harris.”

Some Sihanoukville residents who claim to have known Mr. Harris have written in his defense on expat-oriented websites.
 
On the Khmer 440 site, “JTW” wrote of renting a motorcycle to the fugitive: “There’s probably a bit more to this story. He told us his name, gave over his passport and told us he was leaving for Sihanoukville to train dogs for the Army. He told us everything he’s meant to be keeping top secret, didn’t worry about anything. He seemed like your average guy, hardly a fugitive from the US Army who was afraid of revealing his identity.”

From Kentucky, Ms. Diaz, the first of Harris’ two ex-wives, said these comments did not surprise her.

“He was trained in military counterintelligence,” she wrote to the Khmer Times. “He is essentially a master manipulator. It is what he’s been trained to do. No one should feel guilty or bad that they were deceived by him.” 
 

Michael Edward Harris is wanted for 44 counts of child pornography and desertion from the US Army. (Photo: Courtesy Denise Diaz)

Mr. Harris’s apartment in Sihanoukville was abandoned in haste. (Photo: Courtesy Denise Diaz)