Former FBI agent Eduardo Valdivia, who was convicted of raping three women in small tattoo parlors he operated, was sentenced to 60 years in prison in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Valdivia, 41, was found guilty in July on six counts of second-degree rape and two counts of fourth-degree sex offenses.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday evening that the judge in the case intended to sentence Valdivia above the sentencing guidelines.
McCarthy noted that Valdivia was a “trained FBI agent,” who had the knowledge of going undercover, deception techniques and how to take on different identities.
“The impact on the victims was quite obvious, and is one of the reasons we asked for the sentence we did,” he said. “These were all young women. The youngest victim in this case was actually a high school senior.”
McCarthy pointed out that Valdivia’s part-time job in the tattoo shops was not approved by the FBI. Valdivia was also pending trial for a separate criminal incident when one of the sexual assaults happened.
“This was a case involving the targeting of young women. The level of sophistication and manipulation in this case is actually unparalleled,” he said. “None of this was known to the FBI.”
A victim of Valdivia, who remained anonymous, spoke at the news conference and thanked the county’s law enforcement who worked on the case. She said she felt “sad” seeing Valdivia in the court room.
“There are certain things to take into consideration for his behavior — his job, how he was raised, where he was raised, the people who brought him up. There’s a lot of things to contribute to how he turned out to be a monster like this. I feel like the words that he has said are excuses for his behavior,” she said.
The woman’s father also spoke under anonymity and said, “It is good to see that truth, pursued by good people, can still prevail.”
Background
Prosecutors said Valdivia raped the three women after offering them free tattoos in exchange for modeling opportunities.
According to charging documents, the third woman told police Valdivia raped her in 2022, after she came across the Instagram account “DCFineLines” and made appointments to receive two tattoos from him.
After receiving her second tattoo from Valdivia at his studio in Potomac, Maryland, on Oct. 2, 2022, he picked her up and moved her to a couch where the woman “became immediately aware of Valdivia’s intention to engage her in sexual contact.”
“He created an illusion in their minds that if they continue contact with him, they were going to make their professional modeling dreams come true,” according to county prosecutors’ sentencing memo, reported by the Washington Post, which said prosecutors were seeking the statutory maximum of 122 years behind bars.
In December 2022, Valdivia was found not guilty of attempted murder after shooting another passenger twice inside a Red Line train near the Medical Center station in Bethesda, back in December 2020.
The jury found Valdivia acted in self-defense when he shot an unarmed, aggressive panhandler. He was acquitted on all counts.
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