A B.C. man who has pleaded guilty to making child pornography and was found to be a high risk to reoffend multiple times has been released repeatedly, a Vancouver judge heard Wednesday.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Jennifer Oulton Nov. 22 heard about past reports on Kristjon Otto Olson, 41, as part of Crown submissions requesting a 60-day psychiatric assessment at B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.
Prosecutor Ellen Leno told Oulton such an assessment would form how the Crown might proceed in requesting a dangerous offender or long-term offender designation as part of sentencing.
Olson pleaded guilty Nov. 7 to 11 charges out of 26 listed in a Feb. 10, 2022 court information. Those charges are:
• making child pornography from March 8, 2018 to Feb. 13, 2020;
• exposing his genitals for 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.
The application
Leno took Oulton through Olson’s history of more than a decade in contact with the justice system, psychiatric reports, National Parole Board decisions and releases.
Reports repeatedly called Olson a high risk. Such reports were done in 2010, 2014 and 2015.
Leno said Olson’s offences are “organized, calculated and well-planned.”
She told the judge a new report could assist the court in determining if Olson poses a future risk to the psychological or physical safety of others. She said all the offences meet the definition of a threat of serious injury.
On one release, Leno said, Olson had cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet.
She said he was arrested Feb. 13, 2020 and charged with breach offences. He was released in May 2020 and arrested again that December.
The court heard he was released in May 2022 and arrested again in June.
Leno said his pattern of offending continued with the current offences, and that his victims are females between 10 and 15 years.
Outlon said she would give her decision on the application Nov. 28.
International investigation
The charges came as part of an international investigation.
Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison said in March 2022 that the charges came after the department’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit worked for nearly two years to gather evidence and secure criminal charges in the case, which involved child sexual abuse material.
The RCMP has said the 47 Canadians caught in the operation faced 186 charges.
INTERPOL listed 12 children being safeguarded from harm in Canada with seven in B.C. Overall, 146 children were safeguarded.
While not all arrests were made public, Australian Federal Police announced more than 100 Australians had been arrested in their related Operation Molto.
The international investigation led by investigators in New Zealand, dubbed Operation H, involved police from across Canada, Australia and Europe along with the FBI.
The alleged offences in the Olson charges occurred after police in 2017 warned Olson was moving to Vancouver and was of a high risk to reoffend. He was released to a halfway house.
In May 2020, Surrey RCMP issued a public warning about Olson living in Surrey, calling him, "a dangerous sex offender who poses a high risk to reoffend."
