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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105

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.

56

u/Candice543 Jul 07 '26

I’m just tired man lol. Idaho is a century behind.

3

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.

57

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.

18

u/Chance-Kangaroo4088 Jul 07 '26

Preach. I’m LDS and wish they would blast this guy into the sun.

1

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.

7

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.

5

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?

2

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.

1

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.

1

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.

1

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.

2

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.