An FBI agent acquitted of attempted murder for shooting a man on a train nearly four years ago was arrested in Maryland on Monday on charges of sexually assaulting two women, according to police and court records.
Eduardo Valdivia has been suspended by the FBI pending the conclusion of the police investigation in Montgomery County, Maryland, a spokesman for the bureau said.
“The FBI takes allegations of criminal violations and misconduct very seriously,” an FBI spokesperson said in a statement. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI cannot comment further.”
Valdivia was previously charged and acquitted of attempted second-degree murder and other charges stemming from a 2022 off-duty shooting at a moving subway train near Washington, DC.
Online court records show Valdivia now faces felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of second-degree rape.
The dates of the alleged crimes are in May 2024 and September 2024.
Defense attorney Robert Bonsib, who represented Valdivia in the shooting case, confirmed that his client was arrested Monday on sexual assault charges.
“We do not prima facie accept any allegation until all the evidence comes to light,” Bonsib said.
A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police Department identified Valdivia as the arrested FBI agent without commenting on his connection to the shooting.
Police detectives believe there may be additional victims and they are planning a news conference Tuesday “to encourage them to come forward,” the department said in a statement. Police did not immediately release any other information about the charges.
Bonsib said Valdivia, 40, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was ordered held in custody following his initial court appearance on Monday. Valdivia is scheduled to return to court Tuesday for a bond hearing before a judge, Bonsib said.
Bonsib said Valdivia joined the FBI in 2011 and in 2019 was promoted to supervisory special agent at FBI Headquarters.
The lawyer said that Valdivia had been working as an FBI agent since his acquittal.
On December 15, 2020, a confrontation between Valdivia and an unarmed passenger quickly escalated from an exchange of words to a shooting on a train near the Medical Center station in Bethesda, Maryland.
Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling him to step back, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.
The injured man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, Hill said.
Bonsib has said that Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him from behind the train car.
“The law does not require that you wait to be killed before taking action. If this had resulted in a hand-to-hand fight and a struggle for Agent Valdivia’s gun, only God knows what could have happened,” Bonsib said after Valdivia was charged.
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