By Steve Neavling
A Maryland judge on Tuesday sentenced former FBI agent Eduardo Valdivia to 60 years in prison for raping three women he lured to his tattoo studios under a fake name.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Cheryl McCally called Valdivia’s actions “vicious” and said he devised a “diabolical” plan to manipulate his victims, The Washington Post reports. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum sentence of 122 years.
Valdivia, 41, was convicted in July of six counts of second-degree rape involving three women who were 18 to 21 years old when they were assaulted. During the sentencing, two of the women described the lasting trauma he caused. One said she still struggles to get out of bed some days. Another told Valdivia she was there to “reclaim the voice of my 18-year-old self.”
Authorities said Valdivia operated under the alias “Lalo Brown” and promoted “DC Fine Line Tattoos” on social media. He used free tattoos and modeling offers to lure victims into his studios in Potomac and Gaithersburg, prosecutors said, adding that his crimes were driven by a desire for “control and domination.”
Defense attorneys admitted Valdivia had sex with the women but claimed it was consensual. They had sought a sentence under 26 years.
Valdivia, who joined the FBI in 2011, was previously acquitted in 2022 of shooting a panhandler on a Metro train. He raped his first victim while free on bond in that case, prosecutors said. When investigators later closed in, he allegedly destroyed potential video evidence from his tattoo studio.
