A violent transgender sex offender with a history of making toddler sex abuse material was released from prison on Monday only to be re-arrested days later on new offenses. Laverne Travis Waskahat, 47, had accumulated a trove of baby-related items and sexual drawings of children in the 72 hours he was in the community.
Waskahat has an extensive history of criminal activity dating back years in the province of Alberta, with almost all of his convictions relating to child sexual abuse. According to the Edmonton Police Service, Waskahat has a history of possessing, making and publishing child pornography involving male and female infants under three years old.
Waskahat has been known to offend against the children while in a position of care over the child and has also been known to take voyeuristic photos in public of infants. These photos were often taken in publicly-accessible bathrooms, such as in malls and grocery stores.
When Waskahat was released on December 11, police issued a firestorm of public notices warning that they had “reasonable grounds to believe [he] is of significant harm to the community” and is a risk of committing a sexual offense against a child under the age of 16.
But Waskahat’s freedom didn’t last long, and he was re-arrested on December 14 after failing to notify his parole officer of his whereabouts.
In a media statement, Edmonton Police revealed they had received a tip that traced Waskahat to a hotel room in the city’s West Side. At the time of his arrest, police found a baby crib, diapers, dozens of alleged pornographic drawings and a laptop in Waskahat’s room.
He is now facing new charges of making child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Past public information notices on Waskahat reveal the extent of the conditions he has been subjected to, speaking to the severity of his risk to public safety. Among the conditions, Waskahat was subjected to a 10pm to 6am curfew, a total ban on possessing devices that accessed the internet, a ban on consuming pornography of any kind, and a ban on viewing any photos of children whether explicit or not. Due to his history of grooming, Waskahat was also prohibited from entering into a relationship with a person who had custody of a child under the age of 16.
In 2019, Waskahat was convicted on three charges, one of which involved accessing pornography of infants in diapers. At the time, he had just been released from prison after serving a sentence for producing and possessing sexual abuse materials involving infants under the age of 3.
According to news reports released at the time, the charges had initially been entered in court using “male pronouns” that were “updated” after Waskahat declared his status as a “transgender woman.” Subsequent police releases on Waskahat referred to him using “she/her” pronouns.