FBI Agent Poses as Tattoo Artist, Found Guilty of Rape | Shocking Revelation

Published Jul 19, 2025 " 3 minute read

Eduardo Valdivia, an FBI special agent, is pictured in a mugshot provided by the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Police, Nov. 26, 2024. Photo by Stephanie Scarbrough / Files /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enticed by the offer of a free tattoo, the 18-year-old arrived at a tiny studio run by Lalo Brown hidden inside a strip mall in suburban Maryland. Later, a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old were drawn into Browns operation by tattoos and promises of modeling photo shoots.

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What none of the women knew was that Lalo Brown was really FBI Agent Eduardo Valdivia. And what a jury in Montgomery County concluded Friday after an eight-day trial was that Valdivia raped all three of them inside his tattoo parlours.

Valdivia, 41, sat expressionless as the jury announced its verdict at 7:25 p.m.: Guilty of six counts of second-degree rape. He could face decades in prison. Sentencing is set for Oct. 14.

Valdivia had been suspended by the bureau. He testified that he never told the FBI about the tattoo parlours.

In closing arguments, prosecutors said Valdivia used skills he learned while working undercover to create the Lalo Brown persona. He marketed his business over social media as DC Fine Line Tattoos. And the motives for his crimes went well beyond sex.

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Its about the predator catching his prey, Assistant State Attorney Rachel Morris told jurors. Its about total control and domination over these young women.

Valdivias attorneys acknowledged to the jury that their client, even he as was married with three children, engaged in sexual acts with the three women. But the acts were consensual, they said.

As much as Mr. Valdivia exercised poor judgment, and that is a gross understatement, he did not commit a crime during the course of the conduct he had with these women, attorney Robert Bonsib told jurors.

Morris told jurors that without forensic evidence such as DNA or fingerprints, their judgment would come down to whose testimony they believed the victims or Valdivias. In other words, whether they trusted these three young women who took the stand and testified about extremely uncomfortable things or the master manipulator, the defendant.

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The first two of the six rapes occurred Oct. 2, 2022, when Valdivia assaulted the 18-year-old in his studio deep within the second floor of the strip mall in Potomac. The other rapes occurred in a studio Valdivia later opened in a Gaithersburg office building and in a hotel next to it.

Known as Eddie, Valdivia holds degrees in Spanish literature and public health and early in his career helped oversee public health clinics around the county before joining the FBI in 2011, Bonsib said.

It was the second time within three years that Valdivia went on trial for felony counts in Montgomery County, where he lived. In late 2022, after about three hours of deliberations, a jury determined Valdivia had acted in self-defence when he shot an unarmed, aggressive panhandler on a moving Metro train as he was heading to work. Valdivia testified that the man had backed him into a corner and threatened to take his gun and turn it on him.

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In the trial that ended Friday, jurors deliberated for about three and a half hours. Their decision was unanimous.

This case was very difficult. It was extremely difficult to listen to these young womens stories, juror Lee Tucker said after the verdict. I found it very challenging to listen to.

He said he found all three women credible. By contrast, he said, Valdivia came across as manipulative and dishonest both in how he lured the women into his studios and how he ultimately came across on the witness stand.

I found him very well-spoken, very articulate. But at the end of the day, his testimony could not overcome the totality of evidence against him, Tucker said.

Valdivias admitted conduct that he engaged in sexual acts with the women through deception, and did so while married with three children, was of course gross and disgusting, the juror said.

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But during deliberations, Tucker said, the jury put those feelings aside to directly address whether Valdivia committed second-degree rape and fourth-degree sex offence.

In Maryland, second-degree rape covers a range of nonconsensual sex acts that involve force or threats of force. Fourth-degree sex offence is a lesser charge that covers certain nonconsensual acts.

Tucker said that jurors worked well together asking hard questions but listening to everyones answers. We had open and honest discussion, he said.

I think it is incredibility brave that these three young women came forward to testify about such horrendous acts committed against them, Tucker said. I am forever grateful to them for coming forward & My heart goes out to them.