A Houston woman faces 20 years in prison for her role in a 2018 kidnapping that ended with an FBI agent accidentally killing the man he was trying to rescue.

Sophia Perez Heath, 37, pleaded guilty Friday to the aggravated kidnapping of Ulises Valladares in Montgomery County.

Heath’s guilty plea and sentencing in Montgomery County 9th District Court are the latest developments in a case that so far has resulted in one man sentenced to life in prison, two others awaiting trial, a civil rights lawsuit and Harris County officials continuing to investigate the federal agent who shot Valladares.

Armed kidnappers burst into Valladares’ Conroe home on Jan. 24, 2018, bound his 12-year-old son with duct tape, abducted Ulises and demanded money they said his brother owed them.

As FBI agents tried to rescue Valladares the next morning from the Trinity Gardens home where he was being held, one of the would-be rescuers shot him. Authorities later explained that the agent was using his M-4 rifle to break a window at the back of the home, and that Valladares — who was bound and gagged inside — grabbed the gun. Thinking a kidnapper was attempting to wrest the gun from him, the agent fired two shots, killing Valladares.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Kidnapping victim’s family sues FBI

Three people, including Heath, were taken into custody. Nicholas Chase Cunningham, 44, of Webster, and Jimmy Tony Sanchez, 40, of Conroe, were charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery. In August, Cunningham was convicted of aggravated robbery. His aggravated kidnapping charge was dropped after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery.

Cunningham’s wife and a distant cousin of Valladares, Delia Gualdina Velasquez, 48, of Conroe, was charged in July 2019 with one count of aggravated kidnapping following new evidence in the case. Trial dates for Sanchez and Velasquez are pending.

Valladares’ relatives ultimately sued his kidnappers and the FBI agent who shot him.

It’s not clear whether the FBI took any internal actions against the agent, but the bureau almost never disciplines its agents after they shoot people. A 2013 New York Times investigation found that between 1993 to early 2011, every one of the 150 shootings agents were involved in during that time was deemed justified.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas decided not to charge the federal agent who shot Valladares in May 2019, but didn’t reveal that information until the Chronicle inquired about the case in September.

FBI spokeswoman Christina Garza declined to comment about the case citing the pending litigation. She also declined comment about specific questions related to the agent.

“The FBI does not comment on personnel matters,” she said, in a written statement.

For subscribers: Houston police chief says FBI agent’s statement on fatal shooting of kidnap victim doesn’t match evidence

“Now there’s been two out of four convictions so far of those accused of the kidnapping,” said Randall Kallinen, the civil rights attorney representing Valladares’ sister and mother. “It is extremely tragic that Ulises, after suffering torture at the hands of the kidnappers, was then shot and killed by an FBI agent.”

That same month, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said a local grand jury would decide whether criminal charges would be filed against the FBI agent.

“That case remains in the hands of our civil rights division, which is also handling the ever-expanding Harding Street probe,” said DA spokesman Dane Schiller. “It has not yet been presented to a grand jury.”

Valladares’ sister, Consuelo Valladares, said in a phone interview from Honduras, where she lives with Valladares’ mother, that the family is frustrated Heath hadn’t received a longer sentence but that she respected the judge’s sentence. And she said she was waiting for information about the agent who shot her brother.

“On Saturday it will have been two years since it happened,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for the FBI to to speak to the family, to recognize they messed up. They haven’t acknowledged that they committed a failure, they haven’t been humble or professional with us, they’ve never even contacted us or apologized, not even once.”

Federal authorities have never revealed the identity of the agent publicly but recently disclosed his name to the lawyers involved in the case — almost two years after the incident that claimed Valladares’ life.

A federal judge has barred attorneys from sharing that information with reporters, however.

Kallinen said the secrecy with which the government has shrouded the case ultimately was a disservice both to Valladares’ family and to the greater public.

“In order for the people to effectively govern, they need information,” Kallinen said. “How can the people request a better government if they don’t know what happened in the first place?”

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

st.john.smith@chron.com