A Virginia man who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2018 and admitted to being a pedophile and white supremacist was arrested for kidnapping a 12-year-old girl, according to local authorities.
Nathan Daniel Larson, 40, was arrested last week in Denver during a flight layover from Fresno, California, according to
the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. Larson was on his way to Virginia with a 12-year-old girl he met through social media, authorities said. The girl was uninjured and has been reunited with her family.
"This particular case is extremely disturbing," Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said during
a news conference Saturday. "Very far-reaching across our nation."
Fresno authorities received a report that a 12-year-old girl went missing on Dec. 14. Authorities quickly learned that the girl may have been forced to run away with an older man to catch a cross-country flight from Fresno Yosemite International Airport to Virginia.
Investigators learned Larson allegedly convinced the girl to sneak out of her house around 2 a.m. and forced her to wear a long wig at the airport.
"He also told her to act as though she was disabled and unable to speak to ensure she would not converse with anyone at the airport while making their way onto the airplane," authorities said in a news release.
Detectives searched Larson's home in Virginia and found electronic devices that revealed he runs a website that encourages pedophilia and child rape, authorities said.
"During the past two months, Larson was able to convince the Fresno girl, through manipulation and grooming, to send him pornographic images of herself," authorities said.
