WARNING: Some content may be disturbing to readers.
A Vancouver man who pleaded guilty to 11 child pornography-related charges involving some children as young as nine has been declared a dangerous offender and jailed indefinitely.
Kristjon Otto Olson, 43, sat quietly in the prisoner dock in red prison garb, a cross hanging from a beaded chain around his neck.
At times, he nodded as Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Jennifer Oulton detailed his crimes in a decision that started in the morning and continued to mid-afternoon June 20.
Oulton said police found thousands and thousands of images and videos depicting young children.
The judge detailed repeated incarcerations for similar offences and multiple sex offender treatment programs Olson attended.
"None has succeeded,” Oulton said.
And, she said, whenever Olson was released, the offending began again.
And, that offending continued even while he was on bail, probation, parole or subject to restraining orders.
“He has repeatedly re-offended,” Oulton said. “Mr. Olson cannot or will not change his behaviour.”
And, she said, the defence was not opposing the dangerous offender application.
Oulton said Olson described himself as a “bisexual pedophile” and had agreed he is a high risk to the community.
The judge said several experts agreed Olson’s risk is high.
“I designate Mr. Olson a dangerous offender,” Oulton said.
“Mr. Olson has a high degree of moral blameworthiness,” she added.
Olson has dozens of convictions for offences in several provinces.
The guilty pleas
The charges to which Olson pleaded guilty are:
• making child pornography from March 8, 2018 to Feb. 13, 2020;
• exposing his genitals to a person under 16 for a sexual purpose between the same dates;
• possessing child pornography between the same dates;
• committing extortion of a person between Jan. 1, 2019 and June 19, 2020;
• making child pornography of the same person between Jan. 1, 2019 and June 19, 2020;
• inviting touching for a sexual purpose of the same person between the same dates;
• exposing his genitals to that person for a sexual purpose between the same dates;
• between the dates of May 1, 2019 and May 16, 2019, communicating with another person he believed was under 18 for the purpose of committing sex-based offences;
• transmitting, distributing, selling, importing or exporting child pornography;
• breaching a peace bond by communicating with a person he knew or should have known was under 16; and,
• breaching a court recognizance by possessing pornographic material.
All of the offences are listed in court documents as having occurred in Vancouver.
Lodestar Media has chosen not to detail the offences as much of the information is disturbing.
Olson pleaded guilty Nov. 7, 2023 to 11 charges out of 26 listed in a Feb. 10, 2022 court information.
The Crown prosecutor Ellen Leno said in June 2024 that the decision to seek a dangerous offender status came after the court received a psychiatric assessment.
And Oulton granted it.
The judge also passed sentence for each of the individual counts to which Olson pleaded guilty.
The cumulative sentence for those counts is five years, to be served concurrent to the indeterminate sentence.
International investigation
Olson was initially charged with 14 counts of making child pornography involving 12 girls under 16 years of age. The charges came as part of an international investigation.
The RCMP said in 2022 that 47 Canadians caught in the operation face 186 charges, though more may come.
INTERPOL listed 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 at the time announced more than 100 Australians having been arrested as part of Operation Molto.
The case also involved work by the Canadian National Child Exploitation Centre and the U.S. Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Reports from those organizations resulted in further Vancouver Police Department work.
Oulton said one investigating officer called Olson’s collection of child pornography found on multiple cell phones, laptop and hard drive, “one of the most extensively organized collections of child pornography I have ever seen.”
Some of those devices were found hidden inside a piece of furniture when police executed a search warrant on his then-residence in East Vancouver.
How Olson operated
Oulton described behaviour where Olson would seek out young, often prepubescent girls on social media, frequently posing as a teenaged boy.
Using Instagram, he would have them perform various acts, frequently using a split screen where he could be seen masturbating.
He would record those videos, save them and share them with other people he communicated with online.
When children refused to do what he said, Olson would threaten them with sharing the images and exposing them to family and friends.
In one case, he threatened to kill a girl’s father.
There, she challenged Olson to show his face onscreen.
“I’m your daddy,” he responded.
“No, you’re not,” she said.
In another case where he threatened a 13-year-old girl in Australia, he said, “I’m in control, bitch. Call me master.”
Oulton said one victim said Olson had ruined her life.
Sometimes, he would offer to pay for sex or ask girls to find others he could pay for sex.
In another, when a boy asked Olson not to use his image to entice girls and Olson refused, the boy threatened to kill himself. Another child began to harm herself as a result of Olson’s actions.
The judge said psychiatrists who have examined Olson’s case found him a high risk to re-offend, one describing his situation as “severe and chronic.”
Oulton said Olson has displayed anti-social behaviour and paraphilic tendencies including pedophilia, voyeurism and exhibitionism.
Oulton said Olson has been agreeable to possibly taking an anti-libidinal medication to suppress sexual urges.
“It would not be legal to compel Mr. Olson to take this medication,” she said.
