‘Compulsive child exploitation offender’: MAGA chief of staff arrested for trafficking, abusing kids

Is anyone else starting to notice a pattern? MAGA talks a big game about wanting to protect kids from evil immigrants, trans people, liberals, and anyone who doesn’t pass the paper bag test. But behind closed doors? They’re getting up to some truly repugnant stuff.

Case in point, 36-year-old Craig Scott Valdez of Anchorage, Alaska. Valdez is listed as having worked as Republican state senator George Rauscher’s chief of staff since November and became state committee chair of the Anchorage Young Republicans just last month.

So, what has Valdez been up to when he’s not cheering on Trump? Well, he’s just been indicted by a grand jury on charges of sex trafficking a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, producing and receiving child sexual abuse material, and coercion and enticement of a minor.

Craig Valdez, 36, of Anchorage, was arrested today in Juneau after a federal grand jury in #Alaska returned an indictment charging him with sex trafficking & other child exploitation offenses. Valdez allegedly used Snapchat to identify, groom & entice juvenile females in Alaska… pic.twitter.com/bf9R1gqgpG

— U.S. Attorney Alaska (@USAO_AK) February 20, 2026

The offences relate to a horrifying series of events that took place in October 2025, with court documents detailing Valdez luring a 15-year-old girl to his home after meeting her on Snapchat. He drove to her place, picked her up, and transported her “for the purpose of sexually exploiting the child to celebrate his birthday.”

“Difficulty walking and maintaining consciousness”

Fortunately, the girl’s alarmed sister rushed to tell their mom what was happening, and she used a family tracking app to find out where Valdez had taken her. She then rushed to the address, hearing her daughter inside Valdez’s house pleading with him to be released. I’ll let the court documents take over here:

“(The girl’s) mother then entered the residence, struck Valdez once in the face and recovered the child, who exhibited signs of extreme drug or alcohol intoxication and had difficulty walking and maintaining consciousness… “(Police) responded a short time later, at which point Valdez, puzzlingly, chose to flee from his own residence.”

The girl was interviewed by cops, who told her that other children had introduced her to Valdez when she was 13 or 14 years old. This disturbing pattern of contact between Valdez and underage girls has led investigators to conclude this is far from a one-off incident, and that he may have many more victims in the area.

The FBI is looking for more information about 36-year-old Craig Scott Valdez, state Sen. George Rauscher's chief of staff, arrested this morning on charges of child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.https://t.co/X77XnfK2a2

— Alaska Public Media (@alaskapublic) February 20, 2026

As you might expect, Valdez has been fired from his job and is potentially facing years behind bars. The FBI is now involved, saying Valdez used the usernames “NONAME20233132” or “DOCHANK” online, and that anyone with knowledge of his activities contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at 907-276-4441 or deliver a tip anonymously to tips.fbi.gov.

At this point, it’s probably good advice not to leave your children unattended around MAGA. Looks like the corruption stretches through it from top to bottom.