A man in his mid-20s pleaded guilty in a North Vancouver courtroom earlier this month to four counts of child exploitation crimes he was accused of committing in Whistler and Vancouver three-and-a-half years ago.
Keron Mark Salang-Oy, born in 1998, conceded on Thursday, Sept. 14 to one count each of distributing and possessing child pornography, and two counts of telecommunicating to lure a child under the age of 18. All four offences occurred in 2020, between April 14 and Aug. 20, according to court documents.
The charges laid in September 2021 stemmed from a Sea to Sky RCMP investigation launched in May of that year, when the RCMP’s BC Integrated Child Exploitation Unit (BC ICE) shared information with Whistler Mounties about a Facebook user caught uploading and sharing exploitative images of youth. Those uploads occurred in Whistler the previous April, confirmed Cst. Katrina Boehmer, media relations officer with Sea to Sky RCMP’s Whistler detachment.
Whistler’s General Investigation Section (GIS) took the lead on the investigation, which ramped up when BC ICE reached out to local investigators with more information about other instances of child exploitation materials being uploaded and shared in Whistler, as well as other jurisdictions within the Lower Mainland, Boehmer said.
Sea to Sky RCMP confirmed Salang-Oy was living in the Lower Mainland at the time of his arrest.
BC ICE is a specialized unit responsible for coordinating the provincial RCMP’s response to online child abuse crimes in British Columbia, working alongside the National Exploitation Crime Centre and other child exploitation policing partners.
“This investigation was a multi-jurisdictional effort and it included the involvement of both BC ICE and Sea to Sky Whistler GIS investigators,” Boehmer explained in an email. “Reports of child exploitation are taken very seriously by the RCMP, and individuals who prey on young children should be aware that because of closer working relationships within and between law enforcement agencies around the world, perpetrators will be apprehended and held accountable for their actions.
“We would encourage anyone who is aware of child exploitation that is occurring to contact either BC ICE or their local detachment,” she added.
After submitting his guilty plea, Salang-Oy appeared in court briefly on Sept. 19 as officials determined a date for subsequent proceedings. He’s due to appear in North Vancouver Provincial Court next on Dec. 12, when a judge will hear a pre-sentence report.
