A Fairfield County man is facing federal charges after allegedly traveling to North Carolina to kidnap and sexually exploit a 12-year-old girl.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Virgil Larson, 45, of Bremen, Ohio, was charged with kidnapping a minor and four other child exploitation or pornography crimes.
According to charging documents, in early April, the FBI received information regarding a missing 12-year-old from North Carolina. Investigation revealed that Larson had been communicating with the victim on Snapchat and through text messages.
North Carolina law enforcement officials were still at the girl’s home investigating the missing person report when her parents received a call from the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office on the victim’s cell phone. Deputies confirmed that they were with the victim and that she had been in the front passenger seat of a vehicle being driven by Larson.
An affidavit details that Larson crashed his car into the median of Highway 33 near Hocking and Athens counties. Deputies were called to the single-vehicle crash and Larson claimed he had fallen asleep while driving and needed assistance getting his vehicle out of a ditch.
Larson allegedly told law enforcement officials that the victim was ‘just a friend’ and that she was 18 years old. When the victim could not name her birth year, officers separated her from the defendant and learned she was 12 years old.
A forensic review of their online messages revealed that the victim was threatened and told others would be killed if the victim did not send a sexually explicit image.
Larson was arrested in Hocking County on local charges on April 7 and has remained in custody since.
His federal charges will supersede the local ones and include sexual exploitation of a minor, receipt or possession of child pornography, coercion and enticement of a minor, travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, and kidnapping a minor.
If convicted as currently charged, Larson would face up to life in prison.
Larson is a sex offender with at least two prior related convictions.
A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Related Federal Cases
- Virgil Larson, Kidnapping, Ohio 2023 · North Carolina
- Daveion Wright, Child Exploitation, Ohio 2025 · Alabama
- Todd J. Kniseley, Failing to Register as Sex Offender, Ohio 2023 · Pennsylvania
- Keith Wilson, Failing to Register as Sex Offender, Ohio 2024 · Pennsylvania
- Christopher Helmick, Child Sex Crimes, Youngstown OH, 2025 · North Carolina
Key Facts
- State: Ohio
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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