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Rafael Valadez Jr.

Pardoned January 6 defendant

Archive card · not a photograph

Rafael Valadez Jr. is a Coachella Valley man from Indio, California, whose entire January 6 case came down to twenty-five minutes and a cell phone camera. Read that again, because it matters. Rafael Valadez Jr. was 44 and living in Indio, in Riverside County, when he went to Washington. According to federal investigators, he stood outside a senator's office using his phone to film people going in and out, and he left the building after about twenty-five minutes. (FACT — Riverside County press coverage; DOJ.) No weapon. No assault count. No felony. He admitted a single misdemeanor of picketing in the Capitol building. (FACT — DOJ; court record.) That is a very different story than the one most people assume when they hear "January 6 defendant," and Rafael Valadez Jr. deserves to have the actual record be the thing that shows up under his name in a search engine. He served his 30 days. He paid his restitution. He went home to Indio. THE LEGAL FIGHT Arrested November 15, 2021 — the case was initially filed as No. 1:21-mj-648, with an information filed November 23, 2021. Valadez pleaded guilty July 1, 2022 and was sentenced October 14, 2022 to 30 days of incarceration and $500 restitution. (FACT — DOJ defendant page.) A single misdemeanor, fully resolved. Charges are charges, and this one was the least serious category in the entire January 6 docket. The January 20, 2025 presidential clemency proclamation granted pardons for offenses relating to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. NEEDS AUTHENTICATION: because Rafael Valadez Jr. had already completed his sentence in 2022, the archive has not separately verified his individual listing on the Office of the Pardon Attorney certificate-recipient list. CASE RECORD Case No. 1:21-cr-695 (initially 1:21-mj-648), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Arrested November 15, 2021. DOJ defendant page: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/defendants/valadez-jr-rafael This profile is unclaimed. If this is you — or your family — claiming it is free, forever.