Daniel Larson sits in a federal psychiatric facility in Springfield, Missouri, awaiting trial on charges that could send him to prison for 60 years. But before the bomb threats and federal indictment, there was a toothbrush video that documented something far more sinister: a mentally ill man being manipulated into acts so degrading they’re hard to describe.
The daniel larson toothbrush incident, recorded in July 2021 and leaked a year later, shows Larson performing an unsanitary act with a toothbrush while dedicating it to Grace VanderWaal, a singer he’d never met but claimed to be dating.
This wasn’t a breakdown. It was manipulation.
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What the Video Shows
The footage surfaced on Reddit on July 21, 2022, nearly 12 months after it was recorded. Shot in what followers call the “Pink Room,” the video shows Larson filming himself performing a degrading act involving a toothbrush in an extremely unsanitary manner before using it for its intended purpose.
The entire act was performed at the direction of someone he believed was helping launch his music career.
That person was Josh Wells, known online as Flexburger, a troll who spent months posing as a music industry manager.
The Man Behind the Videos
Daniel Robert Larson was born November 15, 1998, in Lancaster, California. By age 11, social services had removed him from his mother’s care due to neglect. He moved to Colorado to live with his grandmother, Nancy Shimer, who enrolled him in the Tennyson Center for Children, a facility for abused and neglected youth.
Medical records show diagnoses of autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. After his grandmother died in 2018, Larson cycled through group homes before becoming homeless at 20.
He started posting videos to TikTok in March 2020. His content was odd but mostly harmless: front-facing camera videos where he’d say goodnight to followers or discuss his aspirations to become a singer. By July 2020, he announced a presidential campaign. Followers ironically called him “Mr. President.”
The account @daniellarsonfans grew to 89,200 followers and 3.7 million likes. That’s when the trolls arrived.
The Flexburger Operation
In November 2020, someone discovered Larson’s Pinterest account. It contained image galleries of young girls and a map showing age of consent laws by state. The account was reported to the FBI. Larson went dark for months.
During this period, Josh Wells made contact. Operating under the fake record label Party House Records and using the name “Josh,” Wells positioned himself as Larson’s manager. He told Larson that someone called “Flexburger” was hacking his accounts and trying to destroy his career.
Flexburger and Josh were the same person.
On May 6, 2021, Wells convinced Larson to “audition” for adult films by exposing himself on TikTok Live. Larson stripped naked in front of 500 viewers before moderators banned him mid-stream. He repeated the act the next day, later claiming he’d been hacked.
Two months later, in mid-July 2021, came the toothbrush incident. Wells had spent weeks building trust, convincing Larson that degrading acts would somehow advance his career and impress VanderWaal.
The VanderWaal Harassment
Larson’s obsession with Grace VanderWaal started when he watched her win America’s Got Talent. She was 12 years old at the time. He was 17.
He convinced himself they were in a relationship. He posted about her constantly, tagging her in videos and flooding her comment sections. His posts became increasingly inappropriate, describing acts he wanted to perform. VanderWaal filtered “Daniel Larson,” “Mr. President,” and “Danderson” from her comments.
Other trolls impersonated VanderWaal and her family members, feeding his delusions. They’d send messages as “Grace,” encouraging him to make more videos or come find her.
On July 25, 2022, VanderWaal’s mother, Tina, sent Larson a direct message: “Stop saying my daughter’s name. Stop saying you are in a relationship with her. You are scaring her and our family. Everything you have said and done has been in your own mind. You need to access some mental health support and stop harassing my daughter. I have contacted the authorities and will continue to press the issue if you don’t stop making disturbing videos.”
Larson responded by threatening suicide. He never stopped posting about her.
In December 2021, her brother Jakob had already warned Larson about a restraining order. In March 2023, Tina warned people sending him money that they were “assisting in committing a crime” if it helped him travel to find Grace.
Nothing worked. The posts continued.
The Federal Charges
Between July 2023 and April 2024, Larson made multiple threats to bomb government buildings. He threatened a Colorado courthouse, a county administration building, and made interstate threats against the White House.
Federal agents arrested him in Denver on April 30, 2024. The indictment lists seven counts: six for threatened use of explosives and one for interstate communication of threats. Each carries up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Norman Reid Neureiter denied his release, citing public safety risks.
By December 2024, authorities had transferred Larson to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Court-ordered psychiatric evaluations determined he was incompetent to stand trial. As of January 2026, he remains there, undergoing treatment while awaiting a competency determination.
What Happened to Flexburger
Wells stopped managing Larson after the May 6 incident but continued documenting him. He operates YouTube channels under the name LarsonLeak with over 30,000 combined subscribers. In July 2025, he announced a docuseries called “The Larson Files.”
In a May 2023 Reddit AMA, Wells explained his role: “I told him that Flexburger was this evil guy hacking all of his accounts. He had no clue that it was me. When he was making all of those videos with the headset on talking about me, I was on the phone with him.”
Asked about Larson’s behavior toward minors, Wells said: “As for the people on TikTok that defend him constantly, it drives me insane. This subreddit was actually mostly pro-Daniel up until about a year ago. When I was his manager, I tried telling everyone that Daniel was a horrible person but no one believed me.”
The Aftermath
The daniel larson toothbrush video remains one of the most graphic examples of what can happen when mental illness meets internet culture. A man with documented schizophrenia and autism was systematically manipulated into performing degrading acts while thousands watched. Some sent money. Some impersonated celebrities to make it worse. Most just watched.
Larson may spend the rest of his life in psychiatric care or prison. VanderWaal, now 22, has never publicly addressed the years of harassment beyond her mother’s private messages. Wells continues producing content about the man he once manipulated.
The video itself still circulates. People still search for it. And somewhere in Missouri, Daniel Larson waits for a court to decide if he’ll ever understand what happened to him.
