Vancouver man charged with more than 2 dozen offences for allegedly producing child pornography

A Vancouver man is facing 26 criminal charges for allegedly making and distributing child pornography, following a lengthy investigation that began on the other side of the world.

Kristjon Olson, 40, was identified as a suspect after New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs identified a number of Vancouver-based accounts that were viewing and sharing explicit images of minors on a cloud storage platform, according to a statement from the Vancouver Police Department.

The VPD launched an investigation in April 2020, and Crown prosecutors have now approved charges.

"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," VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said in the 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."

Olson's alleged crimes involved children living in Canada and the U.S. and took place between January 2019 and June 2020.

The charges include making, distributing, and possessing child pornography, exposing, extortion, communicating with a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose, invitation to sexual touching and breaching court orders.