CNews.ca - May 4, 2010

Notorious pedophile Karl Toft was released from custody Tuesday after being charged with breaching the conditions of his recognizance order.

The 73-year-old will be back in court on May 25, but in the meantime will report each week to the Edmonton police behavioural assessment unit, which monitors high-risk offenders living in the city.

He must continue to live under the strict conditions of his order.

Det. Doug MacLeod of the unit said he's satisfied with the judge's decision.

“It's what we wanted to happen,” he said.

Toft has admitted to molesting more than 200 boys in the 1980s while working in a New Brunswick reform school for three decades ending in the 1980s. He's been reporting to the unit ever since being released from jail in 2001.

Last week he was arrested, allegedly after being seen in a fast food restaurant. His recognizance order strictly forbids Toft from being anywhere that might be frequented by children.

It's the first time he's been charged with breaching his order.

MacLeod said while police believe there was a breach, they have seen nothing to suggest that Toft has posed any threat to children.

“We have to be very careful to separate the breach from reoffending in a sexual case,” he said.

MacLeod said that in the decade city police have been monitoring Toft, he's been “extremely compliant.”

Toft faithfully attends support group meetings, sees counsellors, has a stable home environment and is subject to regular police checks.

“He's been doing all the things he has to do not to reoffend,” said MacLeod.

He said it looks like the alleged breach was an “isolated incident where poor judgment was used.”

Earlier this year, Toft spoke publicly out in support of the Phoenix sex offender rehab program at Alberta Hospital. Fears were growing that the provincial government planned to quietly shut it down.

Toft told the Edmonton Sun that the time he spent in the program helped him confront the enormity of his crimes and inspired him to turn his life around.