Castaic Man Accused of Molesting Girls

A Castaic man has been arrested on suspicion of molesting at least three girls between the ages of 5 and 7 over the past two years, authorities said Wednesday.

Daniel Larson, 50, is scheduled to be arraigned today in San Fernando Superior Court on 32 felony counts of oral copulation and having sex with a child under 14. He is being held in lieu of $1.8 million bail.

Investigators said Larson told them that a female friend brought the girls to his home. In return, he allegedly paid the woman, who gave a percentage of the fee to the girls’ families. The woman is being sought, authorities said.

Authorities suspect the girls came from poor families, but there was no indication that the families knew their children were being molested.

“In the three years I’ve been working child abuse, this is the first case I’ve run across like this,” said Sgt. Mike Becker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Family Crimes Bureau. “This is also the first case we’ve dealt with where an individual has told us he’s being provided young girls for his own sexual gratification.”

Sheriff’s investigators said they arrested Larson on Saturday afternoon at his house in the 29500 block of Cambridge Avenue after receiving a tip.

Authorities served a search warrant there and found several dozen photos of young girls between the ages of 5 and 7, some of whom were nude, Becker said. They also discovered about two dozen videotapes, one of which allegedly shows Larson molesting a young girl, Becker said.

“We are going through the rest of the tapes right now,” he said.

After interviewing Larson, detectives said the molestations began in 1998 after he met a woman who said she could provide young girls for him.

Investigators said Larson told them that girls from Canoga Park and Northridge were brought to his house, where photos and videos were taken.

Larson hasn’t named the woman but authorities suspect she is providing girls for sexual predators, Becker added.

Larson is not a registered sex offender, investigators said, adding that they have no indication Larson molested children prior to 1998. He lives and works in Castaic, although authorities declined to release any employment information other than to say that his work did not involve children.

“By all indications he was an upstanding individual before 1998,” Becker said. “But we are looking into his background to see if there is anything else we should know about.”