Some of you may remember the name of Nathan Daniel Larson. The 40-year-old once ran for Congress in Virginia, and notably admitted to being a pedophile. Now he is back in the news, accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl. Officials arrested him on Monday, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office in California.
Deputies said they and local police got a report of a missing girl. In their story, they said detectives learned she might have been coerced into running off with an older man, who she met on social media back in October. Authorities claim evidence showed her maybe going to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport to fly to Virginia to be with this individual. Further investigation allegedly showed that Larson and the child boarded a plane scheduled to go to Washington D.C. This flight had a layout in Denver, however. A local cop in Colorado assigned to the FBI Task Force arrested Larson over there, authorities said. According to officials, they managed to reunite the girl with her family that same night.
Detectives claim that Larson took a first-hand approach in the abduction: He flew to Fresno, got the child to sneak out of her home at about 2 a.m., and took a ride share together to the airport. In a bid to avoid detection, he allegedly made her put on a wig and act like she was disabled, unable to talk.
Authorities claimed to learn that the defendant also manipulated and groomed the girl into sending him “pornographic images of herself.” They described him as a “white supremacist and a well-known advocate for pedophilia.”
Larson is charged in Colorado with misdemeanor harboring a minor, but California officials have voiced plans to extradite him for felony kidnapping, child abduction, soliciting child pornography from a minor, and meeting a child for the intention of sex. A court hearing in Denver is set for Christmas Eve. Officials also accuse his father Arthur Larson, 69, of assaulting an agent from Homeland Security Investigations when authorities executed a search warrant at the Larson home in Catlett, Virginia. It is unclear if either defendant has an attorney. Officials noted that electronic devices were seized in the search.
Fresno officials voiced concern that Nathan Larson might have done this before with other kids.
UPDATE OCTOBER 18, 2022: Nathan Larson, admitted pedophile on trial for kidnapping California girl, dies in custody.
