Accused Lethbridge child sex trafficker granted bail, re-arrested shortly after release
An Alberta judge granted bail to Skye Atoa, 50, despite the shocking nature of the charges he faces, which include human trafficking and child sexual assault.
An Alberta judge granted bail to Skye Atoa, 50, despite the shocking nature of the charges he faces, which include human trafficking and child sexual assault.
Atoa was re-arrested just 30 minutes after being released on bail for breaching release conditions by attending a shopping centre and being in the close proximity of a young girl. Atoa’s initial mid-December arrest followed police finding a 14-year-old girl who was confined in his apartment and in medical distress.
His next appearance was originally set for February 2, but Atoa breached his conditions only 30 minutes after release prompting a new bail hearing on Thursday where Atoa was denied bail and ordered back into custody.
According to a media release on Wednesday, “Lethbridge Police re-arrested and charged an accused sex offender for breaching the conditions of a release order approximately half an hour after his release from custody.”
The original decision to grant bail to Atoa, who police say may have other unidentified victims, comes amid an investigation into multiple incidents where girls as young as 14 were allegedly targeted, confined and sexually exploited.
According to Lethbridge police, on December 19, officers responded to a report of a 14-year-old being held in an apartment in the 500 block of 8 Street South. Atoa answered the door, and the girl was found inside and in medical distress, requiring treatment.
A subsequent search warrant revealed two more girls, aged 15 and 16, in the unit. The 14-year-old told investigators she had been forcibly confined and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Atoa and other men over three days, during which she was also forced to consume drugs.
The other two girls were also allegedly confined for several hours while Atoa exposed himself to them, according to authorities.
Atoa’s original charges included trafficking of a person under 18, sexual assault of a child under 16, sexual interference, obtaining sexual services of a child for consideration, indecent exposure to a child under 16, sexual counsel of a child, and three counts of unlawful confinement.
“Upon his release, Atoa was required to go to a court-ordered residence but after being dropped off at the location he made no attempt to comply with the requirements and instead proceeded to a store,” Lethbridge police said on Wednesday.
“Through proactive investigation, police observed the subject in the store’s perfume aisle in very close proximity to a young female and he was immediately arrested,” authorities continued.
He now faces an additional charge related to breaching his release conditions.
Conservative MP and Shadow Minister for Justice and the Attorney General Larry Brock wrote on X: “A man accused of sex-trafficking, drugging, and exploiting teenage girls was granted bail. He breached it within 30 minutes!”
“Police say he was immediately found in close proximity to a young girl and had to be re-arrested on the spot,” Brock continued.
Rebel News founder Ezra Levant said of Atoa that “UK-style rape gangs have come to Canada. Thanks to the immigration policies of Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney.”
Despite rampant online speculation, Lethbridge police have provided no information regarding Atoa’s citizenship status, continuing a long-standing practice of Canadian law enforcement not disclosing such information, even in cases where an individual released on bail poses a clear flight risk.
As previously reported by True North, even upon conviction and incarceration, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) lists the citizenship status of a significant portion of its foreign-born inmates as “unknown.”
A CSC response to a 2024 written parliamentary question from Conservative MP for Red Deer—Lacombe, Blaine Calkins, shows CSC is either unaware of, or unwilling to disclose, the citizenship of 319 foreign offenders — slightly more than one third of its total foreign-born inmate population.
The department’s country of citizenship data lists Jamaica, India, and the United States as the top origins at 63, 44 and 38 inmates, respectively, but a staggering 319 are marked as “unknown.”
Late last year, True North reached out to Correctional Service Canada for a better understanding of how this data gap could exist. CSC never responded.
In the meantime, Lethbridge police have released Atoa’s photo in hopes of identifying additional victims who may know him only by an alias.
He is also charged in a separate October 2025 incident involving the sexual assault of a 24-year-old “vulnerable woman” at his residence, with charges including sexual assault and obtaining sexual services for consideration.