Winnipeg authorities are notifying parents that a high-risk sex offender, who has a record of violence against children, is set to reside in the city following his release from federal prison on Nov. 2.
Leslie Wayne Oliver Mercredi, 33, was the subject of a community notification from Winnipeg Police because he has been classified as a high risk for committing further violent offenses against children.
“Although he participated in some treatment programming in the past, Mercredi is still considered high risk to re-offend in a sexual manner,” police said. “All children are at risk, particularly females.”
Mercredi—who also goes by the names Leslie Wayne Brightnose or Leslie Mercredi—was serving a sentence at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, located an hour northeast of the city, after serving time for failing to comply with the conditions of a recognizance order, police said.
He has an extensive criminal history with a range of convictions for sex-related offences, including sexual assault, sexual interference, and assault, as well as possession of a weapon charges and multiple breaches of probation and recognizance orders.
Police said Mercredi commits sexual offences by intimidating victims or plying them with drugs or “other inducements.” He also has a history of violating probation conditions by being with minors unsupervised.
Mercredi was convicted of breaching probation orders this spring and last year. Before that, he was convicted of sex and weapon charges resulting in a sentence of three years and six months, in addition to 779 days he served in pre-trial sentence custody.
He is now subject to a lifetime prohibition order that forbids him from having any contact with kids 16 or younger without written authorization from his probation officer, police said.
He was released under several probation conditions, including no contact with anyone under the age of 18. He must also avoid alcohol and drugs, and adhere to a strict curfew.
The 33-year-old is described as a five-foot-10 and 180-pound indigenous man with black hair and brown eyes. He has a bear claw tattoo on his left upper arm, a skull on his left forearm, 1501 tattooed on his left hand, a bear and skull on his right forearm, a skull on his chest, and a cross on his upper back.
Police said the advisory was released as a measure to allow members of the public “to take suitable measures to protect themselves,” not as an invitation to engage in “any form of vigilante activity.”
