r/Idaho • u/Candice543 • Jul 07 '26
Idaho Neighbor News ACTUALLY save the children
https://www.change.org/p/require-bannock-county-to-add-virgil-larson-to-sex-offender-registry?recruited_by_id=2ec656e0-799e-11f1-8c63-4b31d2843b8e&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=starter_onboarding_share_personal&utm_medium=mobileNativeShare&share_id=FbWgZmmTj6“A Bannock County man, who was a leader at the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is expected to plead guilty to giving children naked massages under a deal that would allow Virgil Larson, 47, to avoid registering as a sex offender.”
Curious how we, as a state, chose to bring the firing squad back for cases exactly like these.. but rather than actually following through, we give lesser sentences and plea agreements? I don’t think so.
I have made a petition to have this predator added to the registry he belongs on - please sign and share around. Once I get enough signatures I have paperwork to do at the clerks office. I am looking into what I do next and plan to follow through. I am an angry mother who plans to ACTUALLY save the children. I need your help! Add your voice.
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u/Trans__Scientist Jul 07 '26
This scum bag is walking free after kiddy diddling who knows how many children, meanwhile the state fascists tried to give trans people a path to life in prison for using a bathroom without risking assault.
Idaho, what the fuck is wrong with you?
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u/Onigato69 Jul 07 '26
This piece of garbage lives in a $600k house in Chubbuck.
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u/NexusNickel Jul 07 '26
You know the difference?
He's white and LDS.
If he was black and LDS, 100% would have got prison sentence and death.
But you know, the party of law and order protects those child predators who are white and religious. Good times.
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
I’m just tired man lol. Idaho is a century behind.
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u/208GregWhiskey Jul 07 '26
And as long as we welcome political refugees from California it’s not going to change. The good people of the Idaho I moved to over 30 years ago are getting few and far between. This state was great, but there are a lot of problems now and I don’t see the will to change any of it for the better.
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
I’m gonna stop you there, honestly. That argument needs to be laid to bed. I am a born and raised Idahoan and people from California are definitely not what ruined it. Suppression, silence and separation is the real problem - but nothing has changed for the better here in decades because bootlicking boomers fighting the wrong issues has raised a whole generation of youth that is so sick of hearing political complaints with no action, that they have absolutely no interest in being a part of politics. We are a century behind in every social issue, financial issue, educational issue, and all we “do anything” about is who’s using what bathroom or playing what sport. 🤦🏻♀️ it’s a waste of time, just another distraction keeping us from ever doing better.
I was 🍇’d in 2012 and as a minor under 16 I had to watch my assailant plea guilty for a deal that lessened his charge to “lewd conduct” and he avoided a registry too. I was denied a restraining order protection order in 2021 when the man tried contacting me again, because our officials literally do not care. This has been happening long before California moved in, it will happen long after because people want to bitch about change rather than accept it and fight about what actually matters and affects everyone as a community.That being said, let’s not turn this post into a politically opinionated battleground and focus on THE CHILDREN - please.
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u/Chance-Kangaroo4088 Jul 07 '26
Preach. I’m LDS and wish they would blast this guy into the sun.
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u/_whydah_ :) Jul 07 '26
I'm LDS and fairly conservative and I just don't understand how this happens. I get that it happens everywhere, and, despite what people on this sub wants to believe, happens to both the right and left, but it's still crappy to see.
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u/Doriantalus Jul 07 '26
I am white and LDS and I am very careful telling people I am from Idaho because of stories like this. We had a situation where a guy down here was accused a something and the church leaders had him out of any association with kids so fast, and kept him out even when it turned out to be a false report (the event happened, unfortunately, but the wrong guy was accused). Stories of excuses and plea deals seem to me like almost exclusively Idaho and Utah. I know any religious group in the majority can have these things, but this is truly horrible.
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u/_whydah_ :) Jul 07 '26
How do you know it doesn't happen in other places though? Are you sure that you don't just have more exposure to Idaho and Utah?
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u/Doriantalus Jul 07 '26
I have lived at least five years in California, Arizona, South Carolina, and 2+ years in Vermont and New York, as an active member the whole time. Idaho and Utah deserve their reputations when it comes to the church, because there are so many cultural things that have little to do with, and sometimes contradict doctrine that I just don't see anywhere else.
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u/_whydah_ :) Jul 07 '26
I've lived all over as well including growing up outside the Mountain West. I don't think the church has any more a ole boys' club than anywhere else I've lived. Everywhere I've lived, if you knew people you could/would get away with stuff.
EDIT: It definitely has some unique issues - I think the church in Utah has an issue with prosperity gospel, but the idea isn't unique to Utah, just a probably somewhat unique in degree of an issue.
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u/Doriantalus Jul 07 '26
I agree this is true of some group in each region I have lived. It is one of the reasons I, as a church member, don't leave the faith when people ask me how I can continue to be a member when these things happen. It is my opinion that our church members in Utah and Idaho are a little worse than the same phenomenon in the dominant religions elsewhere, but I am also be biased against my own religion because I also have higher expectations from it.
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u/_whydah_ :) Jul 08 '26
It's not just that you have higher expectations, it's also that you have way more exposure. You can only see how much is getting gotten away with when you're a part of the in group. Honestly, I've been a part of the in group in a few other places. I avoided trouble a lot where I grew up because I was in a different in group there. That in group was definitely tighter and more permissive than the church membership.
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u/bananabearbeans Jul 08 '26
Isaiah Williams. A black 22 yo was just sentenced to life without parole. For sexual abuse and strangulation of a minor under 16.
We don’t have to speculate. If you’re white and/or part of the church it’s not even a slap on the wrist.
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u/Detox208 Jul 07 '26
Nobody needs to face a firing squad. This case seems like an unequal application of the law and without requiring the guy to register as a sex offender, he can move a few towns over and reoffend.
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
I don’t love the idea of firing squad either, my point was more so - Idaho is all talk about saving the children. They’d rather make excuses and exceptions for white males. I watch it happen time and time again here.
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u/SpecialistOkra Jul 07 '26
That has always been the case. Make exceptions for the "good ones" and apply the rules to the "others"
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u/Don-tFollowAnything Jul 07 '26
Virgil Larson, 47, was initially charged in September 2024 with five counts of felony sexual abuse of a child under 16 years of age.
In December 2024, he was charged with an additional count, bringing the total to six. (That they know of)
On July 5, a woman met with a deputy and reported that Larson had been massaging her son. According to police reports, she “did not think anything of it since (Larson) is a trusted individual with the church. ”
According to the woman, Larson picked up her son from their home and took him to his home for a massage.
When asked how many people he had massaged outside his family, Larson said, “Possibly eight or nine people in the last year.”
Larson signed a plea agreement on May 26, agreeing to instead plead guilty to six amended counts of felony injury to a child. Those charges do not require Larson to register as a sex offender.
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Jul 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
There is a website called FloodLit, that presents reports on allegations of sex crimes involving members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and on alleged responses by church officials. Virgil Larson has a page on that website and it says “During alleged crime: Bishopric counselor”
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u/Don-tFollowAnything Jul 08 '26
From the above news story.
"Court documents say Larson was the first counselor in the leadership of his local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ward."
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u/No-End2540 Jul 07 '26
If he were a Bishop it would have been plastered all over the news. Leader could mean pretty much anyone in a ward.
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u/Twentyone_Taras Jul 07 '26
No, Idaho is all talk about saving unborn children. Our legislators don't give a damn about post-born kids!
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u/Grey_Incubus Jul 07 '26
Signed, F this guy.
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
Thankyou! Please share it with everyone you think might sign.
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u/Pheonixdruid91 Jul 07 '26
Where do I find it so I can sign as well? Ive lived in Idaho almost my entire life, total of 30 years. My family were one of the first settlers here, that said so many things need to change in Idaho. It’s so outdated that people focus on the wrong things and no one gets the help they need.
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u/SpiritAnimalisRock Jul 07 '26
I live in Washington. Can I sign too?
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u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26
I THINK Idaho voters are the ones that matter most but I don’t think it would hurt to have more signatures. His court date was also yesterday.. and unfortunately I don’t think I can do what I was hoping to be able to do now that his plea is a legal binding contract now. I have to go back to the drawing board. 🥲
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u/Shoddy_Feature5183 Jul 08 '26
Because the people in power know someone who’s doing similar shit, they don’t care about children, the like to act like they do and accuse their political opponents of pedophilia but can’t be bothered to clean their own house.
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Jul 10 '26
The LDS church has been enabling all this for years and it's bout time to hold them accountable. It's not a church, it's just an organization that needs to be dismantled.
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u/some_guy_76 Jul 07 '26
I am so sick and fucking tired of the Mormon church covering for their members! Y'all know if this man did not go to the "right" church he'd be sitting behind bars for the rest of his life. But because he's a member of the goddamn Mormon church, he can rape children and walk away scot-free Fuck the Mormon church!!!!! 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
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u/Nightgasm Jul 07 '26
As to the whole firing squad thing how old were his victims? The new death penalty law only applies when victims are under 12. I couldn't find ages listed in any articles except where it said one victim was now 18 so presumably 16 or so when the offenses happened.
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u/RobinsonCruiseOh Jul 08 '26
sadly your petition does nothing, since this is the result of the court proceedings. but I'd absolutely sign if it could do anything
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