Yachtsman arrested in B.C. following U.S. child sexual exploitation charges
Authorities in Canada and the United States say a dual citizen who sails around the world has been arrested in British Columbia following his indictment in Hawaii for the alleged sexual exploitation of a child.
A statement from the U.S. Department of Justice says 62-year-old Donald Steven Lang was also wanted on child sexual abuse charges in Idaho dating back to between 2003 and 2007.
The latest indictment was filed in U.S. district court in Honolulu on Aug. 20 and Lang was arrested over the weekend.
The department doesn't say exactly where, but a subsequent statement from the RCMP says its detachment in Ucluelet, B.C., on the west coast of Vancouver Island, received a notification about a boat linked to Lang on Aug. 22.
Mounties say officers found the vessel and arrested Lang without incident.
The U.S. statement says Lang allegedly coerced a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct aboard his sailboat between September and December 2024 for the purpose of producing images for transmission.
A wanted poster for Lang says he was also 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 Idaho. It notes he was seen last on his boat in Hawaii the previous January.
U.S. authorities would seek the forfeiture of Lang's 16-metre sailboat, the Ishi, and any devices containing child pornography images, including a Samsung phone, should he be convicted, the indictment says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.
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