FBI agent and tattoo parlor owner arrested for assault

On November 28, 2024By Pranco

Eduardo Valdivia (Montgomery County Police Department).

A special agent for the FBI was arrested for sexual abuse several women whom he lured to his tattoo parlor for a so-called photo shoot.

Eduardo Valdivia, 40, became suspended by the FBI pending a police investigation into the allegations. He was arrested in Gaithersburg, Marylandon Monday and charged with two counts of second-degree rape, four counts of fourth-degree sex offense and four counts of second-degree assault, according to to the Montgomery County Police Department.

They added that there may be more victims.

In one statement Released by Montgomery County police, Valdivia is accused of rape by two women, both 21 years old, who claim the officer and tattoo parlor owner “lured them to the tattoo studio under the pretense of modeling at Exeter Models. .” One of the women said the person she had been communicating with on Instagram about the possible modeling job was named “Lalo Brown,” and both women thought they had been corresponding with another woman until they came to the DC Fine Line Tattoos store.

Valdivia owns the shop and rents the space in which the shop is located, but he does not have a valid license to operate a tattoo shop associated with the shop’s address.

Assistant Chief of Police Nicholas Augustinus held a press conference Tuesday, providing more details about the alleged assaults by the two women who came forward. One of the women told police that Valdivia had promised a free tattoo in exchange for having the work photographed as part of a modeling shoot that took place at a later date. She claimed that Valdivia attacked her during the photo session.

“After this attack,” Augustine said, “the victim was coerced and threatened with legal action.”

The second victim’s story was similar.

The alleged victims were not aware of Valdivia’s status as an agent with the FBI, nor is it known whether he was on duty at the time of the reported assaults.

Augustine confirmed that Valdivia’s apparent scheme involving the two identified victims dated back to February and that the investigation began in October when a woman came forward to report a sexual assault. He noted that Valdivia’s pattern of alleged assaults “could have started before that time on other victims.”

“(W)e want the community to know that regardless of whether you sign a contract, you should not be sexually assaulted,” Augustine said. “And we want the victims to come forward, whether they sign something that says ‘confidentiality’ or something like that to come forward, tell us about it so we can help them and provide closure.”

Robert Bonsib, Valdivia’s lawyer, maintained his client’s innocence in a statement to The Associated Press, saying the women came to the store voluntarily and that the visits were “consensual.”

Valdivia was previously arrested in 2020 for allegedly shooting a man on a Washington, DC subway train. He was acquitted of all charges.

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