An FBI agent has been charged with raping two women, almost two years after he was acquitted of attempted murder for shooting a man on a metro train.
Eduardo Valdivia, 40, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was ordered to be held without bond after an initial court appearance on Monday, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek. He is due to return to court for a bond hearing at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
Valdivia faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of second-degree rape and four counts of second-degree assault, the court records show. One of the alleged offenses occurred in early September and the other between mid-May and mid-June.
The Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland said in a statement that it had arrested an FBI agent accused of sexually assaulting two adult women. A spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press that Valdivia is the arrested FBI agent.
The department said detectives believe there may be additional victims and have announced a news conference at 11 a.m on Tuesday “to encourage them to come forward.” No other information about the alleged offenses was given. Police didn’t immediately release any other information about the charges.
The department has been contacted for comment via email.
Valdivia has been suspended by the FBI pending the conclusion of a police investigation in Montgomery County, an FBI spokesperson said in a statement to the AP.
“The FBI takes allegations of criminal violations and misconduct very seriously,” the statement said. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI cannot comment further.”
Robert Bonsib, an attorney who also represented Valdivia in the metro shooting, told The Washington Post: “We’ve been here before. One gets arrested and allegations of wrongdoing shouted out only to later be proven to be baseless. There is a reason why there is a presumption of innocence. One-sided allegations and statements at press conferences are not proof. Let’s see how this shakes out in a courtroom where actual evidence is what is important and mere allegations are deemed legally worthless.”
Bonsib has been contacted for further comment via email.
Valdivia was acquitted of attempted second-degree murder and other charges stemming from an off-duty shooting aboard a moving train in 2022.
The confrontation that led to the shooting took place early on December 15, 2020, after Valdivia was approached by a man who was panhandling on a train approaching the Medical Center station in Bethesda, Maryland.
Authorities said the pair got into a verbal altercation after which Valdivia fired multiple shots, striking the man.
Valdivia shot the man from a distance of about 2 to 3 feet after repeatedly telling him to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court, the AP reported. The man survived the shooting, but had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery, Hill said.
Bonsib said Valdivia had acted in self-defense as the man approached him at the rear of a train car.
“This was a case that should never have been prosecuted,” he told CNN after Valdivia was acquitted. “The jury saw it as we have said it from the beginning. This was a 100% case of self-defense.”
Bonsib told the AP that Valdivia joined the FBI in 2011 and was promoted to supervisory special agent at the FBI headquarters in 2019.
Valdivia began training at the FBI academy in March 2011, according to a LinkedIn page that appears to belong to him. He was a special agent based in Puerto Rico and Los Angeles before being promoted to supervisory special agent in April 2019.
His most recent role saw him based at the Washington, D.C., field office tackling criminal and violent gangs, according to the LinkedIn page.
Prior to joining the FBI, Valdivia worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as a public health analyst and as a project officer. His page says he holds bachelor’s degrees from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and University of California, Irvine, and a master’s degree in public health from the George Washington University.
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