CHATHAM, MA — Social media influencer Braden Peters, 20, known online as “Clavicular,” was charged Sept. 8 with rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and providing alcohol to a minor after a 17-year-old girl told Massachusetts police he assaulted her at his family’s Cape Cod home in May 2025.
The criminal complaint, filed in Orleans District Court in Barnstable County, marks a significant legal escalation for Peters, whose online fame grew rapidly around the “looksmaxxing” trend — a movement focused on maximizing physical appearance through extreme methods. A clerk-magistrate found probable cause for all three charges on Sept. 4, and a formal criminal complaint was issued four days later. Peters is not currently in custody and has not been physically served with an arrest warrant, according to his representative. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14 in Orleans District Court. If convicted on the rape charge alone, Peters faces up to 20 years in prison. A conviction on either the rape or drugging charge would also require him to register as a sex offender.
According to a Chatham Police Department criminal complaint, the accuser — identified in related civil court filings as Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, also known online as Alorah Ziva — told investigators she first connected with Peters on Instagram in May 2025, while she was a minor. Peters allegedly paid her $1,000 to appear in four “looksmaxxing” videos he streamed online, according to the complaint. On the evening of May 23, 2025, Mendoza said Peters ordered her an Uber from her grandparents’ home to his family’s residence on Morris Island, a gated community of multimillion-dollar homes on the southeastern tip of Cape Cod in Chatham. She told police Peters’ mother and grandmother greeted her at the door before Peters escorted her to his bedroom, where he was livestreaming on Twitch. During the stream, Mendoza told police she felt “peer-pressured” to drink and consumed what she estimated was two or three shots of vodka, becoming increasingly intoxicated. She said Peters instructed her to tell viewers the alcohol was water so his Twitch account would not be banned. An officer who reviewed clips from the livestream said one showed Mendoza telling Peters, “Wait I’m so drunk though,” to which Peters responded, “It’s OK,” before the two kissed on camera.
After the livestream ended, Mendoza told police, she fell asleep in Peters’ bed. She said she woke the following morning to Peters having sex with her without her consent. “She stated that because it was already occurring, she did not tell Mr. Peters to stop,” the criminal complaint states. “Ms. Mendoza advised that she did not consent to the sexual intercourse.” Mendoza told investigators she did not speak during the assault because she was in “shock,” and that Peters ordered her an Uber home immediately after. She did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam following the incident, according to the complaint. When police first spoke to her, Mendoza said she had told a friend about the encounter but could not provide that friend’s contact information. When officers followed up, she told them she “did not tell anyone the full extent of what occurred,” the complaint says. Police attempted to contact Peters multiple times in connection with the allegations, but he had not responded to investigators as of Aug. 30, according to the criminal complaint.
The Massachusetts criminal charges come five months after Mendoza, now 18, filed a civil lawsuit against Peters in Miami-Dade County, Florida, in April. That four-count civil complaint accused Peters of battery, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unauthorized use of her name and likeness. The civil suit also included a separate allegation not reflected in the Massachusetts criminal complaint: that Peters injected Mendoza’s face with Aqualyx — a fat-dissolving compound not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — without her consent during a November 2025 livestream at his residence in Delray Beach, Florida. According to the civil lawsuit, “Mendoza’s right cheek has perforated” as a result of the injection, and Peters allegedly suggested the syringe contained methamphetamine. Peters filed a motion in July to dismiss several counts of the civil lawsuit, including the sexual misconduct claim, arguing it was not part of the original complaint. That motion remains pending, and Peters is scheduled to be deposed in the civil case on Oct. 1. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News that the Massachusetts criminal charges are connected to Mendoza’s allegations. Peters’ attorneys declined to comment on the criminal case.
Peters built his online following by publicly pursuing extreme physical transformation techniques, including a practice called “bone smashing,” which involves striking one’s jawline with a hammer in hopes of producing more defined facial features. He livestreams his activities daily across TikTok, Instagram, Kick, and Twitch, and his reach has expanded beyond social media — in June 2026, he walked the runway at a Paris Fashion Week show. The “looksmaxxing” trend has roots in the “involuntary celibate,” or “incel,” online subculture, though Peters has repeatedly denied any connection to that community and described looksmaxxing as a form of self-improvement. The term was recently added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The Massachusetts charges are not Peters’ first legal troubles. In summer 2024, he faced assault and battery charges after a bar fight, which were dismissed. In February 2026, he was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of dangerous drug possession, but prosecutors dropped the case. In March 2026, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office arrested him in Kissimmee, Florida, on battery charges after authorities concluded he had instigated a fight between two women at an Airbnb he rented and posted the video online; prosecutors announced in July they did not intend to file charges. In April 2026, he and another influencer were charged in Florida with unlawfully discharging a firearm after filming themselves shooting at a dead alligator in the Everglades. Peters pleaded no contest and was sentenced to six months of probation and 20 hours of community service, which cannot be streamed or monetized, along with a mandatory firearm safety course and a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wildlife course. Also in April 2026, Peters was hospitalized after appearing to suffer an overdose during a livestream.
Following news of the Massachusetts charges, Peters took to the social media platform X on Monday night to deny the allegations. He posted a video in which Mendoza appeared to describe him as “super nice” and said he “sent me an Uber home right after.” He also shared what he claimed was a handwritten letter from Mendoza thanking him for “helping me as much as you have been.” The timing of the video and letter were not independently verified. “Happens to all successful young men, people try to come for your money. Greed is evil,” Peters wrote in one post. In a separate post, he wrote, “Trying to get my attention in anyway possible, a lawsuit? Seriously… really petty of you.” Peters’ representative, Mitchell Jackson, told NBC News that Peters “has not been physically served” with an arrest warrant, and called the initial reporting on the charges an exaggeration. A spokesperson for Peters told CBS News the criminal charges are “bogus” and said they stem from a civil suit Peters refused to settle after Mendoza later added allegations of sexual abuse. Mendoza’s attorney told NBC News they had “no comment at this time as the police are handling the criminal matter.” Peters’ publicist did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Peters remains free ahead of his Oct. 14 arraignment in Orleans District Court. The rape and drugging charges are felonies under Massachusetts law, while the charge of procuring alcohol for a person under 21 is a misdemeanor. The civil lawsuit filed by Mendoza in Florida continues on a parallel track, with Peters’ deposition set for Oct. 1 and his motion to dismiss still before the court.
