Man linked to Houston tiger to be released from jail for sixth time

The man behind an escaped tiger in a Houston neighborhood is slated to leave a Fort Bend County jail for the sixth time on a 2017 murder charge.

Victor Hugo Cuevas, 26, posted a $300,00 bail over the weekend and is expected to be freed Monday after being outfitted with an ankle monitor, his lawyer, Michael Elliott, said.

The higher bond stemmed from a hours-long revocation hearing May 14 where law enforcement accused Cuevas of speeding away from two Houston police officers with India, the 9-month-old tiger, in the back of a Jeep Cherokee. A judge revoked Cuevas’ bond on four other occasions since his July 2017 arrest for repeatedly violating the conditions of his release.

Three of the bonds were set at $125,000.

Cuevas is charged with murder in an unrelated Fort Bend County shooting. The case, Elliott said, is expected to go to trial in December.

The suspect’s imminent release follows a recently filed search warrant in Harris County that show Cuevas’ landlord knew him by another name. The lease agreement for the home in the 1100 block of Ivy Wall Drive — where authorities said the juvenile tiger had been living — listed Nick Halden as the renter.

The landlord was shown a picture of Cuevas and identified him as Halden.

Elliott was unable to explain why Cuevas used another name on his rental contract and presumed it had to do with his mix martial arts career.

“Many of these fighters use a different name when they fight,” Elliott said.

Police used the search warrant to seize a gun safe from the home in case it contained firearms — which would be another violation of Cuevas’ bond in Fort Bend County. The safe was taken to a police property room to be opened.

Elliott said the gun safe was empty.

The tiger vanished for nearly a week — with police surmising that exotic animal traffickers had stashed the animal — after a viral video showed the aftermath of its May 9 escape. The cat has since been relocated to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch wildlife sanctuary near Dallas.

Police believe Cuevas is the tiger’s owner, an assertion that Elliott has repeatedly disputed.

Cuevas’ wife helped lead police to the tiger, police Commander Ron Borza said.

nicole.hensley@chron.com