FBI Agent Arrested, Hit with Multiple Felony Charges
Whether or not these charges prove true, it appears that the tide has turned against rogue federal agents.
On Nov. 25, according to a statement by the Montgomery County Police Department, the department’s Special Victims Investigations Division arrested 40-year-old FBI Special Agent Eduardo Valdivia of Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Valdivia faces two counts of felony second-degree rape, along with other charges.
Two women have identified Valdivia as the man who, under an alias, raped them inside DC Fine Line Tattoos in Gaithersburg.
Both alleged victims reported having been lured to the tattoo studio by the prospect of modeling opportunities. Initially, both believed that a woman had contacted them. That, of course, proved untrue.
The first alleged victim, who came forward in October, knew Valdivia as “Lalo Brown.” Then, the second alleged victim came forward last month with what the MCPD called a “similar report of sexual assault.”
At a news conference on Tuesday, police said Valdivia lured the women via an Instagram page, per NBC News.
Police claimed that Valdivia sexually assaulted the first woman on her second visit to the studio, where she was to sign a modeling contract. Falsely believing that she would face legal consequences under said contract if she did not honor it, she felt compelled to return for a second shoot, this time at a nearby hotel, where, she said, Valdivia sexually assaulted her again.
Meanwhile, the second woman reported meeting Valdivia through the same Instagram account. Photos of other women on the tattoo shop’s social media page led police to believe that Valdivia may have lured more than two victims.
“I would like to thank the victims that did come forward. They have now stopped this contact going on in our community and being brave to come forward to notify the police about what was going on, which most likely saved other people from being victimized,” Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Nicholas Augustine said during the news conference, per the Associated Press.
As one might expect, defense attorney Robert Bonsib told a different story.
“This conduct is not going to get you the first pew in the church,” Bonsib admitted outside the courthouse.
Still, the attorney suggested that Valdivia engaged in consensual activity with the two women.
“You’ve got to be realistic about the nature of what was going on. This was not criminal conduct.”
According to Bonsib, Valdivia joined the FBI in 2011. The alleged rapist then received a promotion to supervisory special agent at the FBI headquarters in 2019.
Unfortunately, Valdivia has experience defending himself against serious charges stemming from violent encounters.
On Dec. 15, 2020, while off-duty, the agent shot and wounded an unarmed passenger on a Maryland train. Valdivia claimed to have acted in self-defense and was acquitted of attempted second-degree murder and other charges in 2022.
Of course, with respect to these latest charges, Valdivia deserves the presumption of innocence.
Nonetheless, one cannot help noting the arrest of a federal agent during a big week for FBI-related announcements.
On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Kash Patel, an enemy of the Washington D.C., establishment, to serve as FBI director.
In so doing, Trump signaled his plan to impose earth-shaking changes on the tyrannical Bureau. Patel, for instance, has pledged to “shut down the FBI Hoover Building [in Washington, D.C.] on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state.”
Admittedly, the specific charges against Valdivia do not reflect on federal law enforcement as a whole.
Still, the juxtaposition of Valdivia’s arrest and Patel’s nomination should remind Americans that, if we must have an FBI at all, then it must employ only honest agents.
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