B.C. child pornographer declared dangerous offender, locked up indefinitely

Kristjon Otto Olson is seen in an undated police handout image.

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

A B.C. child pornographer with an “obsessive quality” to his predatory behaviour has been declared a dangerous offender and locked up indefinitely, according to a recent court decision.

Kristjon Otto Olson’s most recent crimes included luring two children, extorting a child, exposing himself to children, and making child pornography.

Vancouver provincial court heard those offences began on March 8, 2018 – the same day Olson was released from custody after serving nearly a decade behind bars for other sexual crimes against children.

“Mr. Olson has frequently voiced good intentions with respect to his behaviour in the community,” said Judge Jennifer Oulton, in her decision.

“Trusting Mr. Olson has not been rewarded in the past.”

Authorities eventually identified more than 80 victims Olson had targeted on Instagram from 2018 into 2020, all girls between the ages of nine and 13.

He made child pornography by “eliciting pictures or videos from children either being nude or performing self-exploitative sexual activity,” according to Oulton’s June 20 decision, which was posted online last week.

“During the same period, Mr. Olson exposed his genital organs to, and masturbated in front of, numerous children over social media, recording their reactions.”

Ankle monitor cut off

Vancouver police arrested Olson on Feb. 13, 2020, after officers saw him using a smartphone in breach of his release conditions. A search of his room at a local SRO turned up eight cellphones, a laptop and three hard drives containing thousands of child pornography images and videos.

It’s unclear why it took so long to catch him. Officers responsible for monitoring high-risk sex offenders testified that they’re best able to enforce “observable conditions,” and can’t keep anyone under 24-hour surveillance.

They also had trouble obtaining a warrant to search his home.

The court heard authorities knew child pornography was being distributed from the SRO where Olson was living as early as May 2019, but were initially unable to pin it on him.

“For several months they had only a reasonable suspicion of this, and not enough evidence to get a search warrant, because 49 other people also lived at that location,” Oulton wrote.

The court heard Olson was bailed out on Feb. 13 and fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle – only for him to cut the device off mere hours after his release.

He then headed to a London Drugs to buy another smartphone and data plan, leading to his arrest, once again.

Reoffending from mother’s home

Olson served a few more months in jail for breaching his conditions, and was released to live with his mother in Surrey beginning in May 2020.

The court heard Olson’s mother told his probation officer there was no internet connection in her home – something that turned out to “untrue,” the judge said, which meant Olson could continue committing child pornography offences under her roof.

“There was an internet connection in her home the whole time Mr. Olson was there,” said Oulton.

That tendency to immediately reoffend upon his release from custody was what led Oulton to characterize his behaviour as obsessive.

Interventions had ‘little impact’

After being arrested again in September 2020, Olson pleaded guilty to 11 charges – and even conceded that he meets the criteria for a dangerous offender designation.

He argued against an indeterminate prison sentence, however, pushing instead to serve another 15 years behind bars, followed by 10 years under supervision while taking anti-libidinal medication and receiving individualized psychotherapy.

The judge had trouble believing the plan would work.

Oulton noted that Olson has been under “near-constant” state supervision since he was 16 years old, racking up 52 convictions across three provinces, and that numerous attempts to mitigate his behaviour with medication, counselling and intensive sex offender treatment have had “little impact” on him.

“There have been many efforts to rehabilitate Mr. Olson over the last 23 years. None have succeeded. Mr. Olson has been voicing an intention to change his behaviour over the same time period, but he has not done so,” Oulton wrote.

“I do not have a reasonable expectation, or a confident belief, for good and sufficient reasons, based on the evidence I have heard, that a lesser measure than an indeterminate sentence would adequately protect the public.”