The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced on Saturday that they have arrested former Virginia House of Delegates candidate Nathan Larson, 40, regarding the abduction of a 12-year-old girl from California. 

According to a Facebook post by the Fresno County Sheriff, Larson is currently being held in the Denver County Jail where he is facing a misdemeanor charge of harboring a minor. He is also facing additional felony charges in Fresno County for kidnapping, child abduction, soliciting child pornography from a minor, and meeting a child for the intention of sex. 

“This particular case is extremely disturbing,” remarked Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims. “It’s obvious that Larson had the ability to be in contact with children across the nation and the willingness and the means to travel to abduct them. We believe that there are other victims out there.”

The 12-year-old girl was reported missing to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and Fresno Police Department on December 14th.

Detectives quickly gathered information that the girl was coerced into running away with an older man she had met on social media. The information led authorities to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport where she was seen boarding a flight to Washington, D.C.

The detectives passed the investigation to the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, where authorities quickly discovered the man was Larson after he was seen with the girl.

The flight had a layover in Denver, Colorado, and Larson was located and identified by a Denver Police Officer assigned to the local FBI Task Force. The girl was rescued and returned to her family in Fresno without any injury.

He is scheduled to go to court in Denver on December 24. and the Fresno County Sheriff has issued an extradition request for him to be transported to Fresno County Jail. 

Larson lives in Catlett, Virginia and is known to be a white supremacist and an advocate for pedophilia. In 2009, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison for threatening to kill the President. He was released after serving 14 months of his sentence. 

Larson ran for Congress as a Libertarian in Virginia 1st District in 2008. After being convicted for his threats against President Bush in 2009, he was barred from seeking public office until former Governor Terry McAuliffe restored voting and candidacy rights to thousands of formerly incarcerated Virginians in 2016, including Larson.

After his rights were restored, he ran for the Virginia House of Delegates as an independent in the 31st District in 2017. The following year, he ran for Congress in Virginia’s 10th District, but he withdrew before the election.

Authorities believe that Larson has victimized other children in the past and those cases have never been reported to law enforcement. They encourage those who have had inappropriate contact with Larson to call Fresno County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Brandon Pursell at 559-600-8029 or email brandon.pursell@fresnosheriff.org.