Former Castro Valley FBI Agent Charged With Cyberstalking

CASTRO VALLEY, CA —A former agent with the FBI has been indicted with multiple charges including cyberstalking, witness tampering and obstructing a criminal investigation, according to court papers unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Paul Raymond Flood, 54, of Castro Valley, was arrested Tuesday and made his first court appearance Wednesday, according to prosecutors.

According to the indictment, which was originally filed in May, Flood was a special agent with the FBI from 2007 through 2019.

In early October 2018, Flood met a first-year law student, referred to in the indictment as "Victim-1" or "V-1," who had contacted him for information on pursuing a future career with the FBI. A family member of the woman, referred to in the indictment as "B-1," knew Flood and referred the woman to him, according to prosecutors.

Within a few weeks of meeting the woman, Flood allegedly began to make unwelcome romantic advances toward her and engaged in a pattern of "harassing and intimidating conduct," the DOJ said.

Flood allegedly had a diamond ring delivered to the woman in mid-October 2018; used different numbers and messaging applications to call and text her, creating and using at least 79 different numbers between mid-October 2018 through September 2019; sent messages demonstrating that he was surveilling her and her family; and repeatedly pressured B-1 to have the woman call or unblock him.

Although the woman initially did not report Flood due to her family's fear of retaliation, she reported him in June 2019 to federal and local law enforcement authorities, prosecutors said.

Shortly thereafter, the FBI suspended Flood from duty and an investigation into him began.

In response to investigation, Flood allegedly employed various means to pressure, harass, intimidate, and persuade the woman to help him by not providing statements or testimony in the investigations against him, including "threatening to commit suicide, offering her various bribes, and pressuring her family members to persuade her not to cooperate with law enforcement," the indictment says.

Flood allegedly succeeded in persuading the woman to help him obstruct the pending investigations. This included her evading multiple attempts by investigators to contact her for an interview and to serve her with a federal grand jury subpoena in July 2019. According to the indictment, Flood also persuaded the woman to agree to enter a sham marriage with him so that she would not have to testify against him, buying her a $17,000 engagement ring in the process.

She did not follow through with the marriage plan.

The indictment charges Flood with one count of cyberstalking, two counts of witness tampering by intimidation, threats, corrupt persuasion, or misleading conduct; one count of witness tampering by harassment, and one count of obstruction of a criminal investigation by bribery.

If convicted, Flood faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on each witness tampering count, three years in prison on the witness tampering count, and five years in prison on each count of cyberstalking and obstruction, according to prosecutors.

Flood is currently on conditional release. His next appearance in federal court is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2025.

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