Nathan Larson, a felon who champions paedophilia and regards Adolf Hitler as a "white supremacist hero", has died in custody. Video / ABC
Nathan Larson, a felon who champions paedophilia and regards Adolf Hitler as a "white supremacist hero", has died in custody. Video / ABC
Warning: Story contains references to child sexual abuse
A self-proclaimed paedophilia advocate and accused kidnapper who was on trial for allegedly grooming a 12-year-old California girl has died in custody in Arizona, according to US public records.
Nathan Larson was arrested in 2020 by authorities who said they caught him flying across the country with the girl he had persuaded to run away from home in Fresno, California.
Larson died September 18 and an order of dismissal in his case was filed October 11, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. The US Attorney’s Office had no further details on his death.
The Bee reported that Larson had been transferred from a federal facility in the Fresno area to a lockup in Arizona, where he died. The primary cause of death is pending, according to the medical examiner in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Larson, 41, last appeared in court in March, arguing to represent himself in a federal felony case that could have put him behind bars for life if convicted, according to the Bee.
He was arrested in December 2020 at the Denver International Airport while trying to take the girl to his home in Catlett, Virginia, where his plan was to sexually assault her and impregnate her when she turned 13, according to court records.
Larson made the girl wear a long-haired wig to make her look older and told her to pretend to be mute during their travel, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said at the time of his arrest.
Mims described Larson as a “white supremacist and a well-known advocate for paedophilia”.
“This is a man who runs a website, which encourages the raping of children and sharing of naked photos and video of children being raped,” she added.
Detectives said Larson met the girl through social media, flew to California and persuaded her to sneak out of her house. A Denver police officer stopped the pair during a layover in Colorado. The girl was not injured and later was reunited with her family.
Larson ran and lost a 2017 campaign to become a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 31st House District encompassing Prince William and Fauquier counties in northern Virginia.
He ran as an independent and his platform included advocating for fathers to be able to marry their daughters, legalising child pornography and suppressing women’s rights.
Nathan Larson has written a disturbing manifesto where he supports legalising early marriage and having the Violence Against Woman Act repealed. Photo / nathan.larson.org
In 2009, while living in Boulder, Colorado, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to sending an email to the Secret Service that he intended to kill the president “in the near future”. It is unclear whether Larson was referring to then-President George W. Bush or then-President-elect Barack Obama.
