A 66-year-old man with ties to Whidbey Island was placed on the FBI’s most wanted list.
Federal agents are asking for the public’s help in locating Larry Keith Tennison and his wife, Gretchen Francine Tennison. They have been fugitives from justice since a sealed federal arrest warrant was issued for their arrest in May 2021. A grand jury in federal court in Tulsa, Oklahoma charged each of them with one count of “sexual abuse of a minor in Indian Country.”
Under the charges, they are both accused of raping a girl under the age of 16 repeatedly from August 2018 through April 2019. The alleged crimes took place in Pryor, Oklahoma.
The wanted poster states that Larry Tennison has ties to several Oklahoma communities as well as Whidbey Island and Puyallup. The FBI does not explain what his Whidbey ties are, but his LinkedIn page states that he worked in the Navy as a fire controls technician at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in the late 1980s.
The FBI states that Larry Tennison most recently worked as an electrician and is known to ride motorcycles. He is described as a white male, 6-foot tall, 250 pounds, with gray or sandy hair.
Gretchen Tennison has ties to northern Oklahoma as well as Athens and Brownsboro, Texas. The FBI reports that she is known to change her hair color often, is heavily involved in online communities and produces art as a hobby. She is described as Native American or white, 5-foot-7, 220 pound with dyed blond hair.
Anyone with information concerning the Tennisons should contact a FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
James Praefke, another former Navy man from Whidbey, has been on the NCIS most wanted list since 2005. At his court martial, the original charges of child sexual abuse were withdrawn but he pleaded guilty to stealing, possessing and transporting ammunition and a grenade, illegally possessing explosives and making a false official statement, according to NCIS. He escaped confinement in a Navy brig.
Gretchen Tennison
