WASHINGTON — An FBI agent who was acquitted of attempted murder for shooting a man on a train nearly four years ago was arrested Monday in Maryland on charges that he sexually assaulted two women, according to police and the court.

Eduardo Valdivia has been suspended by the FBI pending the conclusion of an investigation by police 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 in 2022 of attempted second-degree murder and other charges stemming from an off-duty shooting aboard a moving Metro 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 offenses are in May 2024 and September 2024.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib, who represented Valdivia in the shooting, confirmed his client was arrested Monday on sexual assault charges.

“We do not, on the face of it, accept any of the charges until all the evidence is available,” Bonsib said.

A spokesman 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 are planning a news conference Tuesday “to encourage them to come forward,” the department said in a statement. Police did not immediately release other information about the charges.

Valdivia, 40, of Gaithersburg, Md., was taken into custody after his initial appearance Monday, Bonsib said. Valdivia is scheduled to return to court Tuesday for a hearing before a judge, Bonsib said.

Bonsib said Valdivia joined the FBI in 2011 and was promoted to a supervisory special agent at FBI headquarters in 2019. The attorney said Valdivia has worked as an FBI agent since his acquittal.

On December 15, 2020, a confrontation between Valdivia and an unarmed passenger quickly escalated from an unsafe exchange of words to a shooting on a train approaching the Medical Center station in Bethesda, Maryland.

Valdivia shot and wounded the man from about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) away after repeatedly telling the man to back off, County Attorney Robert Hill said in court. The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, Hill said.

Bonsib said Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him behind a wagon.

“The law does not require you to wait to be hit before taking action. If that had led to a hands-on struggle and a struggle for Agent Valdivia’s gun, God only knows what could have happened,” Bonsib said after Valdivia was charged.