FRESNO, Calif. -- A self-proclaimed pedophilia advocate from Charlottesville who once ran for political office in Virginia has been arrested by authorities who said they caught him flying across country with a 12-year-old girl.
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Saturday that 40-year-old Nathan Larson had met the girl online, flew to Fresno and persuaded the girl to sneak out of her house around 2 a.m. on Dec. 14.
"He used a ride share company to pick her up and together they rode to the Fresno Airport," officials said. "Larson made her wear a long hair wig to alter her appearance. 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 the two boarded a plane bound Monday for Washington, D.C., and were stopped on a Denver layover.
Officials say the girl was not injured and has been reunited with her family in California.
Larson, who is being held at the Denver County Jail on a misdemeanor harboring a minor charge, is also facing felony charges in Fresno County for kidnapping, child abduction, soliciting child pornography from a minor and meeting a child for the intention of sex.
The suspect is scheduled to appear in court in Denver on Christmas Eve before he can be extradited to California.
The Catlett, Virginia resident ran and lost a 2017 campaign for the state's House of Delegates.
He is also a convicted felon after spending 16 months in prison for threatening to kill either George W. Bush or Barack Obama in 2008, according to The Washington Post.
"Due to the sophisticated nature of how Larson groomed this Fresno girl, detectives believe he has victimized other children in the past, but those cases have never been reported to law enforcement," officials said. " 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.org"
