A male convicted sex offender in Oregon was arrested on Friday after he pretended to be a 15-year-old girl to try to enroll in a high school, police said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Makayla Craig — also known as Alec Ray Craig — is accused of computer crimes, forgery in the second-degree, and false swearing, the Albany Police Department said in a statement.
“Employees of Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T) contacted School Resource Officer Williams with concerns about a person registering for high school,” a Facebook post from the department said. “The person appeared to be an adult but was portraying themselves as a 15-year-old girl. After further investigation, the individual gave a false name and date of birth attempting to enroll in high school.”
“The subject was identified as 27-year-old, Makayla Craig, a registered sex offender and subsequently arrested,” the post reads.
Craig was convicted of sex abuse in 2023, FOX 12 reports, but additional information is not available.
The department also disclosed that, per a state mandate, “homeless youth” can “initially register for school without verifiable identification.”
“However, prior to the youth actually attending school, there are safeguards in place to confirm identity,” the post said. “We want to thank F.A.C.T. and Greater Albany Public School administrators for promptly alerting us to the suspicious circumstances and working cooperatively with Albany Police Department.”
The post has been inundated with residents asking for more information about the suspect, viewing him as a threat to children in the area. For example, one person wrote, “This announcement is useless without a name and a face. Not letting the community actually be able to see the creeps doing this type of stuff just allows them to continue to fly under the radar and keep doing sick stuff.”
“The people deserve to know who this person was!” another comment said. “Especially since they’ve already been released!!”
Others demanded to see a mugshot. “We need to see a photo !!!!” one person wrote.
The police department has now disabled comments on the post, writing, “Comments will be turned off because of hate speech.”
The only name listed on the Facebook post from the police department is “Makayla Craig.” The name does not match that of anyone in custody. The Daily Wire reached out to the department asking if Craig was booked under a different name and why they were not listed on an intake report.
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
“In short, Makayla Craig was taken into custody and lodged at the Linn County Jail,” the department responded. “Makayla Craig is no longer in custody at the Linn County Jail, and is probably the reason the system you are looking at doesn’t show any information.”
The Daily Wire was told to contact the Oregon State Police Sex Offender Unit for more information. We have yet to receive a response from the Unit.
In a statement sent to FOX 12, Greater Albany Public Schools praised F.A.C.T. for its actions to stop Craig.
“I want to start by saying we are very proud of our Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T.) employee for being thorough and trusting their instinct in this situation,” the statement said. “Thanks to them, the individual was identified and prevented from enrolling, thanks to the employee’s attentiveness and trust in their instincts. When the information provided in the application raised concerns, the employee contacted GAPS partners to verify the details. This collaboration led to identifying the individual as a 27-year-old registered sex offender and alerting law enforcement.”
“To clarify, the individual is not known to Greater Albany Public Schools,” the statement continued. “This situation highlights the importance of our thorough application review process. We will continue to evaluate each application carefully and, when something feels off, take the necessary steps to investigate further before moving on.”
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A male convicted sex offender in Oregon was arrested on Friday after he pretended to be a 15-year-old girl to try to enroll in a high school, police said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Makayla Craig — also known as Alec Ray Craig — is accused of computer crimes, forgery in the second-degree, and false swearing, the Albany Police Department said in a statement.
“Employees of Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T) contacted School Resource Officer Williams with concerns about a person registering for high school,” a Facebook post from the department said. “The person appeared to be an adult but was portraying themselves as a 15-year-old girl. After further investigation, the individual gave a false name and date of birth attempting to enroll in high school.”
“The subject was identified as 27-year-old, Makayla Craig, a registered sex offender and subsequently arrested,” the post reads.
Craig was convicted of sex abuse in 2023, FOX 12 reports, but additional information is not available.
The department also disclosed that, per a state mandate, “homeless youth” can “initially register for school without verifiable identification.”
“However, prior to the youth actually attending school, there are safeguards in place to confirm identity,” the post said. “We want to thank F.A.C.T. and Greater Albany Public School administrators for promptly alerting us to the suspicious circumstances and working cooperatively with Albany Police Department.”
The post has been inundated with residents asking for more information about the suspect, viewing him as a threat to children in the area. For example, one person wrote, “This announcement is useless without a name and a face. Not letting the community actually be able to see the creeps doing this type of stuff just allows them to continue to fly under the radar and keep doing sick stuff.”
“The people deserve to know who this person was!” another comment said. “Especially since they’ve already been released!!”
Others demanded to see a mugshot. “We need to see a photo !!!!” one person wrote.
The police department has now disabled comments on the post, writing, “Comments will be turned off because of hate speech.”
The only name listed on the Facebook post from the police department is “Makayla Craig.” The name does not match that of anyone in custody. The Daily Wire reached out to the department asking if Craig was booked under a different name and why they were not listed on an intake report.
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
“In short, Makayla Craig was taken into custody and lodged at the Linn County Jail,” the department responded. “Makayla Craig is no longer in custody at the Linn County Jail, and is probably the reason the system you are looking at doesn’t show any information.”
The Daily Wire was told to contact the Oregon State Police Sex Offender Unit for more information. We have yet to receive a response from the Unit.
In a statement sent to FOX 12, Greater Albany Public Schools praised F.A.C.T. for its actions to stop Craig.
“I want to start by saying we are very proud of our Families and Communities Together (F.A.C.T.) employee for being thorough and trusting their instinct in this situation,” the statement said. “Thanks to them, the individual was identified and prevented from enrolling, thanks to the employee’s attentiveness and trust in their instincts. When the information provided in the application raised concerns, the employee contacted GAPS partners to verify the details. This collaboration led to identifying the individual as a 27-year-old registered sex offender and alerting law enforcement.”
“To clarify, the individual is not known to Greater Albany Public Schools,” the statement continued. “This situation highlights the importance of our thorough application review process. We will continue to evaluate each application carefully and, when something feels off, take the necessary steps to investigate further before moving on.”
“}]]
