An East Vancouver man facing multiple charges of making child pornography and related issues remains in custody pending a bail hearing April 14.
The charges come as part of an international investigation.
Kristjon Otto Olson is charged with 14 counts of making child pornography involving 12 girls under 16 years of age.
“Online child exploitation cases are some of the most complex and disturbing for police, in part due to their digital nature and because the victims are often located around the world,” Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement. “Detectives from the Vancouver Police Department’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit worked for nearly two years to gather evidence and secure criminal charges in this case, which involved child sexual abuse material.”
The RCMP says the 47 Canadians caught in the operation face 186 charges, though more may come.
INTERPOL lists 12 children being safeguarded from harm in Canada, with seven in B.C. Overall, 146 children were safeguarded. While not all arrests have been made public, Australian Federal Police have announced more than 100 Australians have been arrested as part of Operation Molto.
The investigation, led by investigators in New Zealand and dubbed Operation H, involved police from across Canada, Australia and Europe. The FBI also helped.
The alleged offenses in the Olson charges occurred after police in 2017 warned Olson was moving to Vancouver and was of a high risk to re-offend. He was released to a half-way house.
Those charges span March 2018 to February 2020.
He is further charged with possession and selling child pornography.
Olson is also charged with one count of exposing his genitals to persons under 16 and another similar charge involving Person A, who was under 16 between January 2019 and January 2020.
Olson is also charged with committing extortion of Person A.
Two counts of invitation to sexual touching are also alleged.
One involves allegedly inviting, counselling or inciting Person A to touch a John Doe for a sexual purpose.
There is also a count of communicating with a person believed to be under 16
Olson appeared in Vancouver Provincial Court March 2 via video from jail.
At the time of the 2017 public warning, Olson had already been convicted of sexual assault, three counts of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, and multiple counts around the production and possession of child pornography.
At that time, Olson was released on several court-imposed conditions, including:
- wearing an electronic monitoring device;
- not to consume, purchase or possess alcohol or drugs;
- not to own, use or possess a computer or any technological device that would allow unsupervised internet access;
- not to purchase, acquire, possess or access pornography or any form of sexually explicit material;
- reporting all sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with any person who is responsible for children under 18;
- not to be in, near or around places where children under 18 are likely to congregate, such as schools, parks, pools and rec centres;
- and, not to be in the presence of any child under 18.
His lawyer, Guillaume Garih, called the new case “complex.”
Prosecutor Alan Ip wondered if a bail hearing ban should be requested but Judge Harbans Dhillon declined, saying, “We haven’t heard any facts today.”
The court has ordered a publication ban on any information that could identify a witness who is under 18 or the person who is the subject of child pornography.
Glacier Media has changed the initials of the person identified by their initials in court documents to ‘Person A.’
Olson is also charged with breaching orders he stay away from people he knows or appear to be under 16, not to possess pornographic material and possess or use a computer capable of accessing the internet or network.
