A Webster man convicted in a 2018 kidnapping that ended with an FBI agent shooting the victim during a botched rescue effort was sentenced Aug. 19 to life in prison.

Nicholas Chase Cunningham, 44, pleaded guilty earlier this month to aggravated robbery in the incident that led to the death of Ulises Valladares. Montgomery County District Court Judge Phil Grant imposed the sentence on Cunningham, who will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.

The sentence marks the latest turn in a case that left a single father from Conroe dead, four people facing criminal charges, an FBI agent under investigation, and the federal agency battling a civil rights lawsuit.

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

The attackers falsely claimed they were linked to a Mexican drug cartel and demanded a ransom from Valladares’ brother, authorities said at the time. Investigators later explained they believed that was a scare tactic designed to intimidate Valladares’ brother, Ernesto Valladares.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Mystery shrouds rare FBI shooting that left kidnapping victim dead in Houston

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 submachine gun 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 rifle away from him, the agent fired two shots, killing Valladares, authorities said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, authorities arrested three people. Cunningham and Jimmy Tony Sanchez, 40, were charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery. Sophia Perez Heath, 36, was charged with aggravated kidnapping. In July, authorities also charged Cunningham’s wife, Delia Gualdina Velasquez, 48, with one count of aggravated kidnapping.

Both the FBI and the Houston Police Department investigated the shooting. The case drew national attention after Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in October that his investigators believed the agent’s claims after the shooting were “not supported” by “the totality of the evidence and statements in this investigation.”

On HoustonChronicle.com: FBI agent who shot kidnap victim feared losing control of weapon, police say

The shooting — the first in Harris County by an FBI agent in 13 years— remains under review, according to bureau spokeswoman Christina Garza. Ryan Patrick, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, recused his office from the case and transferred it to the Western District of Texas, where federal prosecutors continue to investigate.

FBI agents are virtually never punished for agent-involved shootings; a 2013 New York Times investigation found that between 1993 to early 2011, every one of the 150 shootings was deemed justified.

After Cunningham pleaded guilty to the robbery charge, prosecutors dismissed the kidnapping count, said Assistant District Attorney Donna Berkey.

Velasquez, the fourth person charged in the case, is being held at the Montgomery County Jail on a $500,000 bond, according to jail records. Berkey on Friday said Velasquez is a distant cousin of Valladares.

She was a suspect from the beginning of the investigation, according to Assistant District Attorney Brittney Aaron, who also prosecuted the case against Cunningham. Recent evidence, Aaron explained, warranted charges against Velasquez.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Harris County District Attorney Ogg pushes for probe in FBI shooting of kidnapping victim

In September, Valladares’ sister filed a federal lawsuit against the unidentified FBI agent.

On Tuesday, Randall Kallinen, a civil rights attorney representing Valladares’ family, criticized the agency’s secrecy, noting that more than 18 months after the debacle, the FBI has not identified the agent who fired the fatal shot.

“We have filed a subpoena for records to try to get the FBI’s shooting report and HPD’s report,” he said. “They’re still keeping everything secret. We haven’t got any of this stuff yet.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a version that appeared in The Courier.

st.john.smith@chron.com jose.gonzalez@chron.com

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