Texas Sweeps Three of Its Most Wanted Sex Offenders Off the Streets in One Week

Three Dangerous Fugitives Captured Across Texas

Three fugitives listed on the Texas Department of Public Safety's 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list were taken into custody in separate operations in Houston, Plano, and at the South Texas border. The coordinated arrests, carried out within days of each other during the last week of June, underscore the reach of multi-agency law enforcement efforts — from the streets of Houston to the U.S.-Mexico border crossing at McAllen.

The arrests involved local agencies from Hidalgo, Plano, and Houston, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies, according to DPS officials. Each operation drew on a different combination of task forces and specialized units, reflecting the complexity of tracking down fugitives who actively evade registration requirements — and, in at least one case, flee the country entirely.

Who Was Captured and What They Did

Leroy Lewis Jr., 53, was apprehended on June 22 at a home in south Houston. DPS special agents with the Texas Anti-Gang Center joined the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the Houston Police Department, and the Texas Attorney General's Fugitive Apprehension Unit to make the arrest. Lewis had been sought since March on a Harris County warrant accusing him of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements. In the 1990s, Lewis was convicted of murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping. Authorities say that in the kidnapping case, he kidnapped a 20-year-old female victim whom he intended to sexually abuse. Lewis was sentenced to 35 years of confinement. In 2012, he was paroled from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and required to register as a sex offender.

Kenneth Wayne Patterson, 64, was arrested June 24 at an apartment complex in Plano after investigators acted on a tip. The arrest involved DPS special agents, Plano police, and the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force. Patterson had been wanted since December 2025 on a Dallas County warrant alleging failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. He was convicted in Dallas County in 1989 of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl and was sentenced to eight years in prison, according to DPS. The agency said Patterson has a history of failing to meet registration requirements.

Eduardo Quinones Fuentes, 32, a documented Tango Valluco gang member who had absconded to Mexico, was taken into custody by U.S. law enforcement 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 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. The sexual assault involved a 29-year-old female victim, for which he received 10 years of probation. A Hidalgo County warrant charging him with failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements was issued in November 2025.

A Broader Push Against Wanted Fugitives

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 signals a sustained and aggressive enforcement posture from state authorities, not a one-off sweep.

Texas Crime Stoppers offers rewards for tips that lead to the capture of fugitives on the state's most-wanted lists. Tips may be submitted through the DPS website, on Facebook, or by calling 1-800-252-TIPS (8477). All tips are anonymous — regardless of how they are submitted — and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name. The Patterson arrest is a direct example of that system working: a community tip led investigators straight to his door. As Texas continues its pursuit of the remaining names on its most-wanted lists, authorities are making clear that geography — and even international borders — offers no reliable sanctuary.