TORONTO - In one of the more bizarre twists during the run-up to the federal election, a former Paul Bernardo admirer and dangerous offender has been booted from the campaign team of a Toronto Conservative candidate.

Michelle Erstikaitis, 31, told QMI Agency Monday night she dyed her hair and used a fake name to join the campaign team of Kevin Moore (Toronto-Centre) as an envelope-stuffer last week.

Just weeks earlier, Erstikaitis had been released from Vanier prison for women in Milton, Ont., where she was awaiting sentencing for a plethora of charges, including stabbing her boyfriend in 2009.

At her April 7 sentencing, Erstikaitis, who was convicted of assault with a

Weapon, was given credit for time served and released to a halfway house, but also declared a dangerous offender.

David Gentili, a spokesman for Moore, confirmed Erstikaitis joined the campaign last week as a volunteer under the name Elle Lisson and was fired early Monday after campaign officials received a "heads up" from a member of the Conservative Party of her true identity.

"We had a volunteer come in to the campaign last week to help with the mailing," said Gentili. "She went under a fake name, so we were unaware of her past ... so that's why we've asked her to (quit)."

Gentili would not say who tipped campaign officials off that Erstikaitis was once a self-professed admirer of Paul Bernardo and even stalked the convicted schoolgirl killer.

In 1999, her obsession drove her to call -- and threaten to kill -- Debbie Mahaffy, the mother of Leslie Mahaffy, who was brutally murdered by Bernardo almost a decade earlier.

Erstikaitis was handed two years probation as a result.

"Kevin Moore had no idea who I was, he had no idea of my background,"

Erstikaitis told QMI Agency Monday night from the Elizabeth Fry halfway house in downtown Toronto. "Mr. Moore is a wonderful man and he should be absolved of this."

Erstikaitis was declared a dangerous offender earlier in April by Ontario Superior Court justice Todd Archibald after sentencing hearings that included psychiatric reports diagnosing her with personality and conduct disorders.

As part of her release, Erstikaitis, who calls herself a "staunch Conservative," is under a 10-year supervision order and will be closely scrutinized by parole officers.

Erstikaitis also served time after pleading guilty to arson after a fire in a Hamilton apartment building in 1999.

terry.davidson@sunmedia.ca