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POCATELLO, Idaho (eastidahonews.com) — A judge did not accept the guilty plea of a former church leader who is accused of committing sexual abuse against multiple minors.
Virgil Larson, 47, had a court hearing Monday morning where he attempted to plead guilty to six amended counts of felony injury to a child. He made this plea in exchange for having his previous charges reduced, which were six counts of felony sexual abuse of a child. This plea deal would not have required Larson to register as a sex offender.
EastIdahoNews.com first became aware of this plea agreement in May, reporting on court records that showed the agreement had been signed on May 26. But after hearing Larson’s account of the events that led to these charges, Judge Robert Naftz did not find the amended charges appropriate.
This is because, based on how Larson claimed his interactions with the victims occurred, it wouldn’t meet the definition of “willfully” under the law, Naftz explained.
“(The law) requires more than a purpose or willingness to commit the act. … The state is required to show the defendant had knowledge of the consequences,” Naftz said.
At the time when Larson was accused of having committed these crimes, he was a first counselor in the leadership of his local ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In total, seven victims, one of them an 18-year-old, came forward during Larson’s investigation, which was initiated in July 2024 after the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office was informed that three of the victims reported the abuse to their ward bishop through the Kirton McConkie Law Office, which represents the LDS church.
During the investigation, a pattern emerged in what the victims reported to authorities and to their bishop, saying that Larson had touched them inappropriately while giving them massages at his private residence, while they were naked.
Court documents stated that victims reported the massages being done, “on the naked body, focusing on the buttocks.”
During Monday’s hearing, Larson gave his own version of the events that led to his criminal investigation.
Larson framed his actions as offering athletic and therapeutic help rather than abuse. He claimed that he first learned “deep tissue manipulation” to address medical conditions faced by his children, who were athletes.
He then went on to claim that the victims had requested massages from him after they heard from one of the boys in their social circle about how Larson had helped relieve his injury and keep competing over the course of multiple sessions.
“He asked if there’s something I could do, and so I said yes,” Larson asserted. Later, Larson said, “And over a period of time, they all requested to have something done to a similar effect.”
Bannock County Prosecuting Attorney Ian Johnson said that statements from the victims contradict this claim.
“Victim impact statements will say that (Larson) sought them out and asked them to come there, and then he willfully put his hands on them,” Johnson said.
Now that Larson’s plea deal has been rejected, he will go to trial, which Naftz set for Jan. 12, 2027.
And once at trial, Larson will face his original charges of six counts of felony abuse of a child, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment. If Larson is convicted on all counts, he would face up to 150 years in prison.
Though Larson has been charged with these crimes, that doesn’t necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law.
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