A Vancouver man is being accused of distributing child pornography in connection to a 22-month global investigation by local police.

Kristjon Olson, 40, is facing 26 charges including the making, distributing and posessing of child pornoraphy, as well as communicating with a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose, extortion and other related charges.

Vancouver police said in a statement Wednesday (March 2) that the investigation was launched in April 2020, after New Zealand鈥檚 Department of Internal Affairs identified a number of accounts on an international cloud storage platform that were linked to suspects in Vancouver who were viewing and sharing child pornography. The New Zealand investigation, known as Operation H, targeted people who made and shared child sexual abuse material around the world.

Olson was living in East Vancouver between January 2019 and June 2020, according to police.

Sgt. Steve Addison said victims lived in Canada and the United States.

鈥淥nline 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.鈥�

Olson is set to appear in court on March 15.

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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