Skip to content

'Handler' of escorts handed three-year sentence

She met Isaias Antonio Aburto at his Yellowknife apartment in the summer of 2017. 

One night less than a month later, she thought she'd never leave alive.


“I can't go a single day without thinking about what he did to me in that room,” wrote a young woman in a victim impact statement during a sentencing hearing in territorial court Thursday.

Her identity is protected under a publication ban.

After the woman's encounter with Aburto, now 29, she agreed to work as an escort, providing sexual services to clients in the city. Aburto, originally from B.C., created online ads for the woman and uploaded photos of her. He oversaw rates and arranged appointments with clients.

If a client asked for drugs, they were provided by the woman through Aburto, the court heard. Both used crack cocaine heavily. On June 25, 2017, Aburto became paranoid about the quality of the drugs he was pushing, and accused the woman of passing on phony crack. Aburto struck the woman, leaving her with bruises on her face and body. He held a knife to her forehead and stabbed her leg.

Aburto told the woman he intended to cut her up into pieces and mail a piece to her mother everyday.
Aburto pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and procuring – the act of using someone to offer sexual services, usually in exchange for money.

The June 2017 arrangement wasn't Aburto's first foray into Yellowknife's sex trade. In the spring of 2017, Aburto met another young woman who agreed to work as an escort under his watch. He offered the woman, who was homeless, to stay at his place. Aburto sent nude photos of the woman to clients. The woman – who received less than half of the money she earned – worked for the next two to three weeks, escorting three or four times a day. The arrangement ended when Aburto accused the woman of stealing and threatened to cut off her toe.

On Dec. 14, 2017, Aburto – bound by a recognizance at the time – robbed a Yellowknife cab driver at knife-point in an alley near Bruno's Pizza. Aburto pleaded guilty to robbery following his arrest.

After negotiations that included considerations of Aburto's own vulnerability, as he struggles with severe addiction and mental health issues, his lawyer said the defence and Crown came to a joint-recommendation of a three-year sentence for all three convictions.

Judge Christine Gagnon accepted the submission Thursday.

“I'm too ashamed to even ask for forgiveness,” said Aburto.

Aburto told the court he was sent on a downward spiral after his marriage fell apart. After feeling like he'd “made it” in life, a “defeated” Aburto “wandered from city to city,” ending up in Yellowknife where he turned to drugs.

His lawyer submitted that Aburto's crimes can be linked to drug-induced psychosis – an assertion backed by a medical professional who said the offender had cognitive issues and a form of psychosis.

Gagnon said Aburto had taken advantage of vulnerable members of society – the young women who weren't involved in sex work before he met them, and the taxi cab driver who was simply trying to make a living.

Citing the death of cab driver Ahmed Mahamud Ali, who was found unconscious in the backseat of his taxi early Monday morning, Gagnon said the safety of drivers and the risks they encounter is a “serious issue.” She said cash-carrying drivers can be “prime targets” for criminals.

With credit for the significant time he's served in remand custody, Aburto will spend one-and-a-half years behind bars