Yachtsman arrested near Vancouver Island on Hawaii child exploitation charge

Donald Steven Lang, 62, a dual Canadian-American sailor, was arrested in Ucluelet, B.C., after a U.S. federal indictment for alleged child sexual exploitation aboard his sailboat in Hawaii.

Dual citizen sailor nabbed in B.C. after Hawaii indictment for alleged child sexual exploitation

A dual Canadian-American yachtsman has been arrested near Vancouver Island after being indicted in Hawaii on charges of sexually exploiting a child, Google News CA — Crime (EN) reports.

Donald Steven Lang, 62, was taken into custody in Ucluelet, B.C., over the weekend following an indictment filed Aug. 20 in U.S. district court in Honolulu. A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice says Lang allegedly produced sexually explicit images of a minor aboard his sailboat between September and December 2024, while the vessel was frequently harboured in Hawaii.

The arrest was the result of cooperation between the FBI and the RCMP, including front-line officers in Tofino, 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 indictment alleges Lang coerced a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images for transmission. The charges come on top of separate allegations filed last year relating to child sexual abuse in Idaho between 2003 and 2007. A wanted poster for Lang indicates he was charged in April 2025 with three counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16 and one count of sexual battery of a minor in connection with the Idaho case. He was last seen on 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 images, including a Samsung phone, according to the indictment.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)