Source: US FBI
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Alex Doran Craig, 32, of Tooele County, Utah, with multiple violent crimes after he and his codefendant, previously charged, allegedly zip-tied, kidnapped, and assaulted two motorcyclists when they unknowingly crossed onto the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.
According to court documents, in April 2025, Craig and Russell Allen, 50, of Tooele County, Utah, allegedly assaulted the victims and told them they were trespassing on Indian land. The victims were allegedly ordered to the ground facedown, zip-tied, kicked and threatened with a knife.
As alleged, the defendants took the victims’ belongings, including their motorcycles, purportedly as an impound for trespassing. The victims were then transported in a truck traveling at an estimated 100 mph to a remote desert area. The victims were then released without any of their property and had to hike over 10 miles, which took about six or seven hours, for help from the Dugway gate guards. Law enforcement later recovered the motorcycles in a maintenance shed on Skull Valley Indian Reservation Road. In June 2025, many of the additional stolen items were recovered by law enforcement, including two cell phones, two wallets containing identification cards for the victims and a GoPro Max camera. During the investigation, video evidence, victim reports, witnesses and jail calls identified both Craig and Allen as participants in the alleged crimes against the victims.
Craig and Allen are charged with kidnapping, assault, and theft while within Indian Country. Their initial appearance on the superseding indictment is scheduled for July 31, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 8.4 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
Acting United States Attorney Felice John Viti for the District of Utah made the announcement.
The case is being investigated by the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorney Sam Pead of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.