Texas Fugitive Sweep Takes Three Most Wanted Sex Offenders Off the Streets

Three Dangerous Fugitives Captured in Coordinated Statewide Operations

Three fugitives from the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list were arrested in separate multi-agency operations across the state. The arrests — spanning from the streets of Houston to a Plano apartment complex to the U.S.-Mexico border — underscore just how far law enforcement will reach to bring the state's most dangerous offenders to justice.

Authorities captured Eduardo Fuentes in Hidalgo, Kenneth Patterson in Plano, and Leroy Lewis Jr. in Houston last week. The arrests involved local agencies from Hidalgo, Plano, and Houston, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies, according to DPS officials.

Who Was Caught and How

Eduardo Quinones Fuentes, 32, a documented Tango Valluco gang member who had absconded to Mexico, was taken into custody by U.S. law enforcement authorities at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge in Hidalgo, Texas, on June 22. The multi-agency investigation was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with members of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force, including Texas DPS Criminal Investigations Division Special Agents. Since 2016, Fuentes has been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, assault, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and human smuggling — with the sexual assault involving a 29-year-old female victim, for which he received 10 years of probation.

Kenneth Wayne Patterson, 64, was taken into custody in Plano on June 24. Following up on tip information, DPS Special Agents and Plano Police Department officers, along with members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force, located and arrested him at an apartment complex. In 1989, Patterson was convicted in Dallas County of sexual assault of a child following an incident with an 8-year-old girl and was sentenced to eight years of confinement. Patterson has a history of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements. A Texas Crime Stoppers reward will be paid out for the tip that led to his arrest.

Leroy Lewis Jr., 53, was taken into custody in Houston on June 22. Working off investigative information, DPS Special Agents assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang Center, along with members of the Harris County Sheriff's Office Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, Houston Police Department Southeast Crime Suppression Team, and Office of the Attorney General's Fugitive Apprehension Unit, located and arrested him at a residence on the south side of Houston. Lewis was previously convicted of murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping — with the kidnapping involving a 20-year-old woman he intended to sexually abuse. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison and was paroled in 2012, when he became subject to sex offender registration requirements. Lewis had been wanted since March 2026, after a warrant was issued out of Harris County for failing to comply with those requirements.

A Broader Crackdown Gaining Momentum

So far in 2026, DPS and other agencies have arrested 44 Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders, and Criminal Illegal Immigrants, including 32 sex offenders and eight gang members — with $61,500 in rewards being paid for tips that yielded arrests. That pace reflects a sustained, coordinated effort that reaches across city lines, county lines, and even international borders.

Funded by the Governor's Public Safety Office, Texas Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders, or Criminal Illegal Immigrants. The tip that brought Patterson in from Plano is a direct example of that program delivering results. With seven of the state's most wanted sex offenders still at large, authorities are counting on the public to keep the momentum going — and the reward money is real incentive to pick up the phone.