Alaska state legislative aide Craig Scott Valdez has been indicted on federal charges that he sex trafficked a 15-year-old girl and committed multiple child sex crimes, including producing and receiving child sexual abuse material, using social media to target minors in Anchorage and Juneau.
Federal court records say a grand jury in Alaska returned the indictment on Tuesday, and federal agents arrested the 36-year-old early Friday in Juneau. Valdez is charged with sex trafficking of a child, sexual exploitation of a minor for both producing and receiving child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and receipt of child pornography.
Prosecutors allege the crimes took place in October 2025 and involved a 15-year-old victim he allegedly met on the Snapchat social media app, according to Alaska News.
According to a detention memo, investigators say Valdez used Snapchat to identify, groom, and entice underage girls for sexual exploitation, and they believe there may be at least 11 other juvenile victims in Anchorage and Juneau.
In the incident described in court filings, Valdez allegedly picked up the 15-year-old from her home and drove her to his Anchorage residence "for the purpose of sexually exploiting the child to celebrate his birthday." The girl's sibling alerted their mother, who used a tracking app to find her at Valdez's home, where she reported hearing her daughter say she wanted to leave.
The memo says the mother went inside, struck Valdez once in the face, and retrieved her daughter, who showed signs of heavy drug or alcohol intoxication and had trouble walking and staying conscious. Police arrived shortly after, and court documents say Valdez fled from his own residence before officers got there.
The teen left her phone behind, but her mother accessed linked messages that allegedly showed Valdez used Snapchat to pressure the girl to come over for sex. The girl later told investigators that other youths had introduced her to Valdez when she was 13 or 14, the Alaska Republic reported.
The U.S. Attorney's Office identified Valdez as a state employee, while local reporting named him as a legislative aide to Alaska state Sen. George Rauscher and chair of the Anchorage Young Republicans. A Senate Minority Caucus spokesperson said he has been fired from the legislative job, and his name was removed from the political group's website after his arrest.
Federal authorities are asking anyone who interacted with someone using the Snapchat usernames "DOCHANK" or "NONAME2033132" to contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office as they continue to investigate. Valdez is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Monday, and he remains presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court, as per Crime Online.
