Nathan Daniel Larson, 40, is in Denver County Jail on a felony charge and faces charges of felony felony in California for kidnapping authorities say they used such “sophisticated” methods of preparation that they fear there may be more casualties.
It is unclear whether Larson, who is scheduled to appear in Denver County court on Dec. 24, has a lawyer.
Larson met the girl, who lives in Fresno, on social media in October, the sheriff’s office said. Over the course of two months of “manipulation and preparation,” Larson convinced her to send her pornographic images of herself, according to the sheriff’s statement.
Last week she flew to Fresno and convinced her to leave her home around 2am on Monday, according to the statement, and then used a car-sharing company to take her to the airport. Larson altered the girl’s appearance with a long wig and told her to act as if she was disabled and unable to speak so as not to talk to anyone while boarding a plane, authorities said.
Later Monday morning, law enforcement was notified that the girl was missing. When detectives learned that Larson and the girl had boarded a plane to Washington, DC, with a stopover in Denver, they contacted authorities there and asked them to check on Larson Airport, the report said. sheriff’s office.
A Denver police officer found and arrested Larson and FBI agents rescued the girl, who was not injured, the sheriff’s office reported. On Monday evening they made arrangements for him to reunite with his family.
Larson now faces a felony charge in Denver of fostering a minor and faces felony offenses in Fresno County, California, for kidnapping, child abduction, requesting child pornography to a minor and meeting with a child for intent to have sex, according to the statement.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office is requesting extradition to California.
He also asks any other possible Larson victim to show up.
“Because of the sophisticated nature of how Larson fixed this Fresno girl, detectives believe she has victimized other children in the past,” the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect has previous criminal charges
This is not the first time Larson has faced serious criminal charges. In 2009, he served 14 months in federal prison for sending “a detailed e-mail to the U.S. secret service threatening to kill the president of the United States,” the Fresno mayor’s office said. Larson sent the email in December 2008, when George Bush was the outgoing president and Barack Obama was the president-elect.
Years after his prison sentence, Larson ran for the Virginia House of Representatives as an independent in 2017 and lost, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
CNN’s Jennifer Feldman contributed to this report.