‘Looksmaxxing’ streamer known as Clavicular pleads not guilty to rape charge

ORLEANS, Mass. (AP) — The “looksmaxxing” livestreamer Braden Peters, better known by his stage name Clavicular, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he raped a 17-year-old girl at his family’s Massachusetts home.

A social media personality known for promoting extreme devotion to male beauty, Peters, 20, is accused of giving the girl alcohol until she was drunk and then sexually assaulting her when she visited him in Chatham, on Cape Cod, in May 2025.

Peters has denied the allegations through his lawyers, saying the sexual encounter was consensual.

Peters arrived at the courthouse in Orleans, Massachusetts, wearing a dark suit, walking a barking dog on a leash. He spoke only to the dog as he entered the courthouse and ignored reporters' questions. Peters maintained a neutral facial expression during the brief arraignment.

He has agreed to a $10,000 bail, surrendered his passport and will not contact or post about the woman who has accused him of assault.

He didn't comment as he left the courthouse. One of his attorneys said in a statement that Peters and the accuser were involved in a “professional and personal relationship” for almost a year.

“At no time did the complainant report anything to the police — or to anyone — because there was nothing to report,” attorney David Meier said.

The case is the latest legal challenge for Peters, who has a million followers on Instagram, and whose hourslong livestreams feature him rating people's looks and talking about methods of becoming better looking that include surgery and drug use.

Earlier this year, he was charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida after police said he provoked a fight between two women and then posted a video of it online. That charge was later dropped. In a separate Florida case this year, he was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to a charge that he fired a gun in public.

The woman who accused Peters of rape told police he had been paying her to appear in his “looksmaxxing” videos. She said that during her visit to a Peters family home, he gave her two or three shots of vodka, then livestreamed himself kissing her while she was drunk. She told police that when she woke up the next morning, Peters was raping her.

The woman also described the alleged assault in a lawsuit she filed in Florida in April. In that lawsuit, she also accused Peters of injecting her with a fat-dissolving substance during a livestream without her consent.

Peters’ attorneys have called the lawsuit a “publicity grab.”

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they consent to being identified publicly.

Orleans District Court Judge John Julian presided over the arraignment of Braden Peters, also known as Clavicular, in Orleans District Court, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Orleans, Mass. (Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times via AP, Pool)

Braden Peters, also known as Clavicular, stands at the microphone during his arraignment in Orleans District Court, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Orleans, Mass. (Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times via AP, Pool)

Attorneys David Meier, right, and Melinda Thompson stand with their client Braden Peters, also known as Clavicular, during his arraignment in Orleans District Court, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Orleans, Mass. (Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times via AP, Pool)

Braden Peters, also known as Clavicular, walks into Orleans District Court for his arraignment, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Orleans, Mass. (Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times via AP, Pool)

Braden Peters, also known as Clavicular, waits for his arraignment in Orleans District Court, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, in Orleans, Mass. (Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times via AP, Pool)

A Florida police officer who found a man dead during a welfare check in 2022 is accused of taking possession of the man’s home and impersonating him for years while fixing up the place, authorities said.

The officer said he took possession of the property weeks after discovering the homeowner's body to “prevent squatters from taking control of it,” according to a court document he filed.

Investigators in South Florida have accused Lauderhill police officer Brian Sguros of carrying out a “complex scheme” to take control of the $400,000 home. They say he made it appear the man was still alive by using his identification to pay taxes on the property and obtain permits to make repairs.

Sguros was arrested this week and charged with five felonies, including official misconduct and criminal use of deceased personal identification. He appeared in court at a brief hearing on Wednesday and then dashed away from reporters outside.

Messages seeking comment were left Thursday with one of his attorneys and Sguros, who has been suspended from his job.

Court documents in a related civil case show that the officer's attempt to take possession of the two-story house in a tidy neighborhood just outside Fort Lauderdale became known after a real estate group bought the house from the man's relatives in 2025.

Sguros said in an affidavit that in August 2022 — less than a month after he found Dennis West dead inside the Lauderhill home — he took possession of the property and spent the next 2 1/2 years making repairs, spending more than $200,000 of his own money.

He said the house had been filled with trash, that its roof was partially collapsed and that the structure was unstable.

Sguros said in another court document that he took over the property “believing that by cleaning, securing, and restoring a dangerous and abandoned residence he was acting lawfully and responsibly to protect the surrounding community.”

He argued that he made no attempts to hide what he was doing.

But investigators with Broward County Sheriff's Office said the deception began when the officer told the county medical examiner that he was friends with West, who had died of natural causes, and that the man had no family, which was not true.

Sguros paid taxes and utilities at the home in West’s name, and forged his signature to get permits for work at the home, the sheriff's office said. Investigators said Sguros also used his access to law enforcement databases to find information about West.

The officer in February 2025 filed paperwork with the county appraiser stating his possession of the home. But after the real estate group later acquired deeds to the property, he filed a civil case against the company seeking to be reimbursed for the money he spent on repairs.

This undated image from video shows a home in Lauderhill, Fla., which a police officer is accused of illegally trying to take possession of after finding its' owner dead during a welfare check. (WSVN-TV via AP)