Fairfield County man faces federal charges after allegedly traveling to North Carolina to kidnap, sexually exploit 12-year-old

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Federal charges were filed against a Bremen, Ohio, man who allegedly kidnapped a 12-year-old North Carolina girl after meeting the minor online. The defendant was discovered with the victim in Ohio when he crashed his car into a median.

Virgil Larson, 45, is charged with kidnapping a minor and four other child exploitation or pornography crimes. He will appear in federal court today at 1:30pm.

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.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Hocking County Sheriff Lanny E. North; and Stokes County, North Carolina, Sheriff Joey Lemons announced the charges. Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Czerniejewski and Jennifer M. Rausch are representing the United States in this case.

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. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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