L to R: Eduardo Fuentes, Kenneth Patterson, Leroy Lewsi, Jr. | Image by Texas DPS/news release
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, state officials said.
The arrests, carried out with the help of local, state, and federal agencies, were announced by DPS.
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. According to DPS, he was convicted in the 1990s of murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated kidnapping. Officials said the kidnapping involved a 20-year-old woman he intended to sexually abuse. Lewis received a 35-year prison sentence and was paroled in 2012, which required him to register as a sex offender.
Plano Arrest Follows Tip
Kenneth Wayne Patterson, 64, was arrested June 24 at an apartment complex in Plano after investigators acted on a tip, DPS said. 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.
Texas Crime Stoppers will pay a reward for the tip that led to Patterson’s arrest.
Suspect Detained at Border
Eduardo Quinones Fuentes, 32, was taken into custody on June 22 at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge when U.S. authorities detained him as he returned from Mexico.
DPS identified Fuentes as a documented Tango Valluco gang member who had fled to Mexico. He had been wanted since October 2025 on parole violation and obstruction warrants, and a Hidalgo County warrant for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements was issued in November 2025.
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, DPS said.
2026 Arrest Totals
DPS said 44 fugitives from its 10 Most Wanted lists have been arrested so far this year, including 32 sex offenders and eight documented gang members. The agency said $61,500 in Crime Stoppers rewards has been paid in connection with those arrests.
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).