WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers.
A woman with a history of possessing, making and publishing child pornography involving toddlers has been released from custody.
The Edmonton Police Service issued a warning Tuesday, saying Laverne Waskahat, 47, is a convicted violent sexual offender and EPS has reasonable grounds to believe they are of significant harm to the community.
Police said she stands the risk of committing a sexual offence against a child under the age of 16, therefore, there is a duty to warn the public.
Waskahat was released from custody on Monday and is now residing in the Edmonton area. She had been serving a sentence for breaching a court order.
“Waskahat has a history of possessing, making and publishing child pornography involving male and female infants under three years old,” police said.
“Waskahat has been known to offend against the children while in a position of care over the child (i.e. while babysitting) and has also been known to take voyeuristic photos in public of infants.
Police said Waskahat may try and associate with someone who has young kids in order to groom them for offending behaviour. She has been known to go by “Lauren Waskahat” online.
“Waskahat has also been known to frequent public bathrooms (i.e. in shopping malls) in order to carry out voyeuristic offending behaviour,” the warning went on to say.
Waskahat is five feet 11 inches tall and 170 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.
She has breached their court orders in the past. Edmonton police issued near-identical warnings about her in 2019 and again in 2020, when she also plead guilty to three charges related to child porn.
In August 2019, the court ruled they could not access the internet unsupervised, and could not own a computer, cellphone or device with internet access, or an ability to take photos.
Anyone with any information about any criminal offenses allegedly committed by Waskahat can contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone.
Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
— with files from Sarah Ryan, Global News