Canadian-American yachtsman arrested in B.C. on Hawaii child exploitation charges

Donald Steven Lang, 62, was arrested in Canada after a Hawaii federal indictment alleged he produced child sexual abuse images aboard his sailboat. FBI and RCMP cooperated in the arrest.

Dual citizen held in B.C. after Hawaii indictment for child sexual exploitation

Google News CA — Crime (EN) reports that a 62-year-old dual Canadian-American yachtsman, Donald Steven Lang, has been arrested in Canada following a federal indictment filed in Honolulu alleging the sexual exploitation of a minor.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Lang allegedly produced sexually explicit images of a minor between September and December 2024 aboard his sailboat, a vessel that had regularly harboured in Hawaii. The indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on Aug. 20.

Lang was arrested over the weekend in Canada. The Department of Justice did not specify the exact location, but confirmed the arrest resulted from cooperation between the FBI and the RCMP — including front-line officers in Tofino, B.C., the detachment in Nanaimo, and the emergency response team on Vancouver Island.

RCMP representatives had not responded to a request for comment by Tuesday.

The Hawaii indictment alleges Lang coerced a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images for transmission. The charges follow separate allegations of child sexual abuse in Idaho between 2003 and 2007.

A wanted poster for Lang indicates he was charged in Idaho in April 2025 with three counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16 and one count of sexual battery of a minor. Lang was last seen aboard his boat in Hawaii the previous January.

Should Lang be convicted, U.S. authorities would seek forfeiture of his 16-metre sailboat, the Ishi, along with any devices found to contain child sexual abuse material, including a Samsung phone, according to the indictment.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)