East Bay man who worked as FBI agent charged with cyberstalking, witness tampering

OAKLAND – A 54-year-old Castro Valley man who worked as a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent for 12 years is facing charges of cyberstalking, witness tampering and obstruction of a criminal investigation by bribery, according to prosecutors.

Paul Raymond Flood was arrested Tuesday and made his first court appearance Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

A federal grand jury indictment filed in May and unsealed Wednesday 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.

Citing the indictment, prosecutors said the victim, a first-year law student, initially contacted Flood for information on pursuing a career with the FBI. She was referred by a family member who knew Flood, a special agent from 2007 to 2019.

A few weeks after meeting the victim, Flood started making “unwelcome romantic advances” and engaged in a “pattern of harassing and intimidating conduct,” according to prosecutors.

That conduct included the creation and use of at least 79 different numbers between mid-October 2018 and September 2019 to contact the victim, prosecutors said.

The victim’s family feared retaliation and she did not report him to authorities until June 2019, according to prosecutors. Not long after, the FBI suspended Flood from duty and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation into his alleged conduct.

Flood, in response, began to “pressure, harass, intimidate and persuade” the victim to help him by not providing statements or testimony in the investigation, prosecutors said, adding that he threatened to commit suicide and offered bribes to the victim.

According to prosecutors, Flood convinced the victim to evade attempts by investigators to contact her for an interview and to serve her with a grand jury subpoena in July 2019.

Flood also persuaded the victim 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,” prosecutors said. The victim ultimately did not follow through with the scheme.

Flood could face decades behind bars if convicted of the charges. For example, each count of witness tampering by intimidation, threats, corrupt persuasion or misleading conduct carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, according to prosecutors.

Flood is on conditional release and will make his next court appearance on Jan. 15.