In 1995, Larry Warton was Nick Newman's prison cellmate, after Nick was convicted of shooting Matt Clark. "The Wartman" was your typical prison tough guy whose goal was to "get that rich boy Newman" by daily intimidation. Nick's father Victor Newman arrived to announce freedom to his innocent son, walked in on a fight, which looked like it might end up fatal for Nick. Victor took charge and turned the tables by intimidating and beating up Warton.

In 1999, Warton returned to Genoa City released from prison and on probation. He had been recruited by the evil Matt Clark (posing as Carter Mills with a reconstructed face) in a plot for revenge and money from the Newman family. Larry was suspected of stalking Victoria Newman, and he was sent back to jail, but later exonerated and released.

Larry worked at a factory warehouse and waited for Matt to come through with his big plan for revenge on Nick Newman. The plan was to framed Nick for selling ecstasy to high school kids. Larry went to Milwaukee with Nick's credit card and set up an apartment in Nick's name, then bought ingredients and made it appear that Nick was manufacturing ecstasy. Larry and Carter staged fights at Crimson Lights to prove Carter's loyalty to Nick and Sharon. Then Matt planted the ecstasy in a coffee bag at the coffeehouse which framed Nick for drug sales.

The drugs turned out to be tainted and were sold as part of the plan. One of the kids who got sick on them died, although he was actually murdered by Carter/Matt to further the charges against Nick. Larry was wracked with guilt, thinking the drugs he bought were responsible for the kid's death. Larry began to distrust Matt when he thought Matt was going to pin the blame for the drugs on him, so he punched Matt. Sharon witnessed it and convinced Carter/Matt to press charges. Carter did, and the parole violation sent Larry back to jail. Nick was arrested for drug sales and landed in a cell across from Larry. Working on Larry's conscience, Nick repeatedly asked him to testify to prove Nick's innocence to get him out of jail.

During his quest for revenge against Nick, Larry developed a soft spot for Nick's daughter, Cassie. It was Cassie who ended up persuading Larry to testify on Nick's behalf, revealing the plot by Matt. Charges against Nick were dropped, and Nick kept his promise to help Larry. Larry was able to be released with time served and maximum probation, if he found a job. Much to the other board members disapproval, Nick's mother, Nikki Newman, got him a job as a janitor at Jabot. Larry made an honest effort to reform himself from that point on. Though Victor originally had strenuous objections to doing anything for Larry, he eventually realized that Larry had changed.

Larry met Amanda Browning by chance at Crimson Lights Coffee Shop where he was a regular, loving their smoothies and occasionally getting a chance to further bond with Cassie. Jill Abbott observed Larry, who shy with women trying, trying to woo Amanda. In an act mostly to win points with her lover Sean, since Larry was his friend, Jill began coaching Larry on etiquette, grammar, and how to talk to a woman. Thanks to Jill, Larry started dating Amanda. Then Amanda's abusive husband, Ralph, tracked Amanda to Genoa City, and began stalking her teenage daughter, Mackenzie. Ralph coerced Amanda to steal from the Chancellors for him after she accepted Kay's offer to move in. Amanda let Ralph into the mansion while everyone was at the prom, but Mac returned home unexpectedly and much to her horror, was met by Ralph.

Billy arrived on the scene as Ralph was about to molest Mac again, confronted Ralph, and whacked him over the head with a fireplace poker. Assuming he had killed Ralph, Billy took Mac to hide out in their special place, the old Abbott playhouse. Thinking they were doomed, Billy and Mac realized they still loved each other. Ralph kidnapped Kay after she returned from chaperoning at the prom, and tied her up in a motel room. Ralph, disguised as a cop, talked Raul into telling him where he might find Billy and Mac. Meanwhile Larry found and rescued Kay. Ralph showed up at the playhouse too late, but found the Billy and Mac at a campsite where Raul and Billy used to play as kids. Ralph knocked Billy out by hitting him over the head with a rock and grabbed Mac, but our hero Larry arrived in time to rescue her.

Larry and Ralph fought, and just before the police arrived, both went over a cliff to the lake shore below. The next morning, Ralph came to and tried to kill an unconscious Larry with a rock. Scared away by the arrival of the police, Ralph disappeared into the bushes. Larry recovered with minor injuries and major thanks from Billy's mother, Jill, for saving her son's life. Because Jill had video evidence that Amanda had stolen her jewels, and after nearly getting both her own daughter Mac and Jill's son Billy killed, Amanda agreed to leave town if Jill would drop the charges.

To show her gratitude, and to provide security around the estate that was filled with only women since Sean had moved out, Kay offered ex-con turned pussycat, Larry Warton, the garage apartment to live. Larry couldn't believe it, and insisted he couldn't live there for free. They agreed on an exchange of rent for Larry working on Kay's 16 cars. With both bruised from their ended relationships, Larry and Jill began to bond. Chemistry flared, and it wasn't long before they ended up in bed, Larry still carrying his battle scars from Ralph. Jill was keeping their relationship secret, after all Larry was "so below Jill's status." But Larry was a good influence on Jill.

Larry told Jill about his mother, who was upset with him when he first went to prison, but in the end forgave him and visited him often. This prompted Jill to give in and go say goodbye to her son, Billy. Billy was leaving for Louisiana to help Mac's father, Brock, build houses for the poor, instead of going to college after high school. Billy and his mother shared a tearful parting, although Jill still felt he was making a mistake. One morning Kay caught Larry leaving Jill's bedroom one morning by climbing down the trellis, and their secret was out. Jill made a scene denying and insulting poor Larry in front of Kay. Later, Larry showed up at the Jabot boardroom and returned the favor by spilling their secret and a box of her sex toys in front of her boss John Abbott and Fredrick Hodges. After being fired by Jill, Larry talked about a sexual harassment lawsuit with attorney Michael Baldwin. But Larry's feelings for Jill wouldn't let him go through with it. Jill and Larry eventually reconciled and Jill got Larry a job at Jabot as the Assistant Security Manger. Once Jill learned Kay was her real birth mother, Larry was a good influence on Jill as she tried to come to grips with how she really felt about Kay. But over time Jill became so obnoxious to Larry, she drove him away, and he quit his job at Jabot.

"A true friend helps you move the body": One winter night when Larry was hanging around the Lakeside Bar, he observed Sharon Newman arrive in a state of panic and run inside. Spotting a piece of cloth hanging from the trunk, Larry popped it from the unlocked driver door, and discovered a dead body wrapped in a sheet. Larry removed the body and hid it in a nearby sewer. Sharon's arch enemy, Grace Turner, followed her out of the biker bar, haranguing her about how terrible she looked and wanting to know what was going on. At the end of her rope, Sharon said, "I'll show you," and was aghast to discover the dead body of Grace's boyfriend, Cameron Kirsten, was missing from her trunk.

About a month later, Larry showed up bruised and beaten, just released from the hospital, at the Newman Ranch to ask Sharon about the body. Sharon, relieved that she hadn't imagined what had happened, gratefully confessed the whole story. Cameron had coerced her into meeting him at a fleabag hotel after a New Year's Eve party and attempted to rape her. As she fought him off, Sharon had clubbed him over the head with a champagne bottle. She had dragged his body down the stairs and left him behind the dumpster so that Nick would not find out. Once the snow-covered body began to thaw, she had decided to move and hide it. After being cornered in an alley by some thugs, she had managed to escape by scaring them with the dead body, and fled to the Lakeside Bar.

As it turned out, Cameron was not really dead, but had been "haunting" Sharon as payback. Sharon thought she was going crazy and insisted Larry show her the dead body. Larry took Sharon, accompanied by her mother-in-law, Nikki, down into the wet, stinking, rat-infested sewer, and found the body. Although she could identify the clothes as Cameron's, the face was too decomposed to recognize. Later on, after Cameron showed up at the Athletic Club very much alive, Larry, Sharon, Michael Baldwin, and Nick figured out that Grace had been helping Cameron with his plot for revenge on Sharon, and they convinced Grace to help them expose Cameron. Eventually the body was found after it had washed out of the sewer, and it turned out to be Sharon's ex-boyfriend and her daughter Cassie's father, Frank Barritt. Cameron had set Sharon up for Frank's murder. When all everything was exposed to the police, Larry was not implicated. But Cameron escaped in his private jet with Sharon held hostage. Nick had stowed away in the plane and jumped Cameron. They managed to get Cameron into a parachute, and all three bailed out of the plane. Cameron landed in a tree, which broke his leg, but Nick and Sharon made him walk to civilization, where they called the police and turned him in.

A year later, upon hearing that 14-year-old Cassie Newman was killed in a tragic accident, Larry was unable to attend the memorial service. But the next day, Larry showed up at Sharon's door with comforting words about how lucky they were to have had Cassie in their lives, and Larry reminded Sharon that he held Cassie responsible for turning his life around. He then took Sharon on an exhilarating motorcycle ride to help cheer her up.

Larry was last mentioned in 2008 when he sent flowers and a card to Kay Chancellor's funeral. Katherine was later found to be alive, and her doppelganger Marge was the person they buried that day.