Craig Scott Valdez, chief of staff to Alaska state Sen. George Rauscher, has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking minors following a federal grand jury indictment.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Craig Scott Valdez, the chief of staff for Alaska state Senator George Rauscher, after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of sex trafficking minors. Valdez, 36, was taken into custody in Juneau on Friday, with prosecutors alleging that he used social media to target underage girls. Investigators are looking into whether at least 11 additional juveniles across Alaska may have been affected by his actions.
According to court records, Valdez, who has identified himself on LinkedIn as serving in the Alaska Legislature for the past year, allegedly used the messaging platform Snapchat to locate, groom, and entice juvenile females for sexual exploitation. Following his arrest, Senator Rauscher stated that he was informed of the situation only after federal authorities had acted.
In a press release issued at 6:22 p.m. on the day of the arrest, Rauscher, a Republican from Sutton, expressed his shock at the allegations. “I was informed today of the arrest of a member of my staff in a federal investigation involving extremely serious charges,” he said. “I learned of this matter after law enforcement action was taken and then from the press. I trust the Department of Justice to handle this appropriately.”
Rauscher confirmed that Valdez is no longer employed in his office, describing the situation as unexpected. “This is a shock to my office. The employee was terminated,” he added. “I do not have anything more to say, other than we need the justice system to take its course as the process continues.”
Newly unsealed court records reveal further allegations against Valdez, detailing an encounter that investigators claim was arranged through Snapchat. The documents indicate that Valdez coordinated with a juvenile to pick them up from their family’s home and drove them to his residence on Endicott Street in Anchorage. Prosecutors allege that this meeting was intended for sexual exploitation and occurred on Valdez’s birthday.
The incident came to light when the minor’s sibling alerted their mother, who then used a family tracking application to locate the juvenile at Valdez’s home. Upon arriving, the mother reported hearing her child express a desire to leave. She entered the residence and confronted Valdez, striking him in the face before taking her child out of the home, according to court filings.
Records indicate that the minor exhibited signs of severe intoxication and struggled to walk or remain conscious. Officers from the Anchorage Police Department arrived shortly thereafter, but by that time, Valdez had fled the scene.
Following the incident, the mother discovered that the juvenile’s cellphone had been left at Valdez’s residence. Using a linked iPad, she accessed the minor’s Snapchat account and took screenshots of conversations with a user identified as “noname20233132,” who referred to himself as “Big Daddy Griffin.” A law enforcement memo states that the messages indicated Valdez encouraging the juvenile to meet him for sexual purposes. As the mother reviewed the conversation, it appeared that the account holder was attempting to erase messages and block the minor.
Later that morning, the mother took the juvenile to a hospital for a forensic sexual assault examination. Detectives from the Crimes Against Children Unit of the Anchorage Police Department subsequently interviewed both the minor and the mother, with both identifying Valdez as the individual at the Endicott Street home.
The juvenile informed investigators that they had first been introduced to Valdez by other children approximately a year earlier, suggesting that initial contact may have occurred when the minor was around 13 or 14 years old, according to the memo.
The Alaska State Crime Lab later identified a DNA sample collected from the minor, and the FBI has since obtained a warrant to collect Valdez’s DNA for comparison.
Federal prosecutors have charged Valdez with four felony counts: sex trafficking of children; sexual exploitation of children through the production of child pornography; coercion and enticement of children; and sexual exploitation of a child involving the receipt of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and could be sentenced to life in federal prison. Any sentence would be determined by a federal district court judge, taking into account U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Valdez is scheduled to make his initial appearance on February 23, 2026, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle F. Reardon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. Prosecutors have requested that he remain in custody while the case proceeds, arguing that no release conditions would adequately ensure community safety.
In a detention memo filed on the day of the arrest, prosecutors described Valdez as a “compulsive child exploitation offender” engaged in “high-volume conduct” involving minors as young as 13. Although the indictment focuses on one alleged victim linked to an incident in October 2025, investigators believe that a preliminary review of his communications suggests a broader pattern of behavior.
Authorities have cited activity on Snapchat accounts under the usernames “noname20233132” and “dochank,” as well as transactions on Cash App, as evidence that at least 11 additional juveniles may have been targeted in Anchorage and Juneau. Court filings allege that Valdez used the payment platform to pay, or attempt to pay, minors to engage in prostitution and to create child sexual abuse material at his direction.
The investigation remains ongoing, with Alaska Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk, a Republican from Tok/Northway, confirming that Valdez is no longer employed by the Legislature. He described the allegations and the arrest as “shocking,” highlighting the serious nature of the charges against Valdez.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the case has raised significant concerns about the safety and protection of minors in the community.
According to The American Bazaar, the investigation is still in progress.