Joshua Dale Larson

On March 11, 2026, Otter Tail County Sheriff's Detective Steve Branby received information regarding a child maltreatment report received through Otter Tail County Human Services regarding a sexual relationship occurring between Joshua Dale Larson, [DOB REDACTED], the Defendant herein, and a 12- year-old juvenile female. Contact was made with the juvenile female's parents who met with Det. Branby on March 13. Law enforcement learned that the Defendant lives near the juvenile female in Deer Creek, Otter Tail County.

The juvenile female's mother told Sgt. Branby that the juvenile female told her that she and Defendant had sex four times, the last time being sometime around Christmas Break in 2025 when the juvenile female was 12. The juvenile females father stated they had started to monitor the juvenile female's cell phone to prevent Defendant from having any contact with her. On March 13, 2026, Otter Tail County Human Services Child Protection Investigator Heather Rosenthal conducted a forensic interview with the juvenile female.

She said that she and Defendant live near each other and started to "talk" when she was 11 and he was 17, and then they started dating. She described that their relationship involved touching and kissing but was mostly sex. She said that she heard someone was going to turn them in and was afraid he would get in trouble. She believed the first time they had sex was in the Summer 2025, when she was 12 years old, and that he stopped responding to her in January 2026 so she had eventually blocked him from social media.

She described one incident of sexual intercourse that occurred at Defendant's resident in the living room when no one else was home that involved penile-vaginal penetration. The juvenile female described the Defendant asking her to "send nudes" and she would send him nude photographs of herself, including photographs of her touching herself, through social media. The juvenile female described having sex with Defendant in the summer of 2025 and then becoming "friend with benefits" and having sex with him through 2026. She said she initially did not want to have sex and told him "no" but he just kept doing it, and then eventually she was fine with it.

Sgt. Branby then met with the Defendant. He confirmed that he is 18 years old and that he started having a relationship with the juvenile female in the Summer 2025 and that it ended because she is "way too young." He confirmed they had sexual intercourse at his residence 3-4 times and it began around his birthday in August 2025 and he believed the last time was around November 2025. He confirmed that he was 18 and she was 12 and that was why he quit talking to her. He stated that he likely had photographs of the juvenile female on his phone that she had sent him and that he had sent her masturbation videos.

A cursory search of Defendant's cell phone showed sexually explicit messages occurring between Defendant and the juvenile female from March 2025 through the end of December 2025, including asking the juvenile victim to send him videos and engage in sexual contact with him, as well as searches regarding pregnancy in March 2026. Defendant said the searches regarding pregnancy were because the juvenile female was concerned about becoming pregnant. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: Pursuant to Minn. Stat. 609.49., intentional failure to appear for duly scheduled court appearances may result in additional criminal charges, and in addition to any arrest warrant that may 3 56-CR-26-583 Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 3/16/2026 otherwise be issued by the Court.