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. Their reasoning is that his actions in the current case were “sophisticated.” From deputies:
If you or someone you know have ever had inappropriate contact with Nathan Larson, you are asked to contact Fresno County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Brandon Pursell at (559) 600-8029, brandon.pursell@fresnosheriff.org or Sergeant Chad Stokes at (559) 600-8144, chad.stokes@fresnosheriff.orgLaw enforcement would like to remind the public to be vigilant when it comes to visiting websites and social media outlets. Parents should also monitor their children’s internet usage and be aware of the software apps they are using. Parents should keep the dialogue open with their children in order to build trust. Online predators often pretend to be someone else in order to lure their victims in and take advantage of them. Teach children to be wary of the person on the other end of the chat line; many times people are not who they say they are. Report any suspicious behavior right away to law enforcement or file a cyber tip through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. https://report.cybertip.org/ You may also contact HSI at (866) 347-2423.
To be sure, Nathan Larson has admitted to being a pedophile, but often equivocated in discussing his personal behavior. In a 2018 interview, HuffPost reporters asked if he was a pedophile or simply wrote about the subject.
“It’s a mix of both,” he said. “When people go over the top there’s a grain of truth to what they say.”
In a pseudonymous forum post, which he confirmed to the outlet, he voiced a desire to “bang” his daughter. He told the outlet that he gave up his parental rights in a custody battle. He told The Washington Post in a 2017 interview that his daughter was living with relatives in Colorado. The mother had died by suicide. He claimed to have only seen the girl once.
Back in 2018, he was running for Congress as an independent, self-described libertarian for Virginia’s 10 district. His platform included legalizing incestuous marriages and child pornography, and literally categorizing women as a property. He had been quoted as glorifying Adolf Hitler as a “white supremacist hero.” As a candidate, Larson did not even make it to election day, dropping out of the race in August 2018. He said it was because his home–where he lived with his parents–was burglarized.
The defendant’s criminal history dates back some years. In a 2009 plea agreement, he admitted to writing the Secret Service in an email to a White House email address on December 11, 2008: “I am writing to inform you that in the near future, I will kill the President of the United States of America.” Fresno officials noted that George W. Bush was the incumbent at the time, while Barack Obama was president-elect. Secret Service agents said they spoke to Larson, who explicitly eliminated any alternate explanation for the statement. They asked if he was “joking, letting of steam, or just trying to draw attention to his political views,” according to court documents obtained by Law&Crime. From records:
The defendant’s responses indicated that he was serious about carrying out his threat. The defendant had taken no action to carry out or effectuate the actions threatened by the email.
[Mugshot via Fresno County Sheriff’s Office]