Vancouver man charged in global child porn investigation
Posted March 2, 2022 12:57 pm.
Last Updated March 2, 2022 1:29 pm.
A Vancouver man is among 47 Canadians arrested across eight provinces after an international child porn investigation.
The investigation, dubbed Operation H, began in New Zealand in September 2019 and spanned several countries around the world over a 24-month period.
Digital investigators in New Zealand shared information with an international team who identified several accounts on an cloud storage platform. They included suspects in Vancouver who police say were viewing and sharing child pornography.
The VPD says in April, 2020, the force began its own investigation.
Kristjon Olson, 40, has been arrested and charged with 26 criminal offences, including making, distributing, and possessing child pornography; exposing; extortion; communicating with a person under age 16 for a sexual purpose; and invitation to sexual touching.
He’s also accused of breaching court orders.
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Olson is accused of crimes that happened between January 2019 and June, 2020. Police say he was living in East Vancouver throughout that time period.
The alleged victims lived in Canada and the U.S.
Nationwide, the RCMP says a total of 186 charges have been laid.
Operation H resulted in 836 international cases and police say 146 children were safeguarded as a result.
“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,” said Sgt. Steve Addison with the VPD. “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.”
With files from Michael Ranger
