DPS Offers Reward for Most Wanted Houston Sex Offender

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) added Jose Mario Lopez, 59, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list. DPS is also offering a cash reward up to $3,000 for any information leading to his capture. Lopez is wanted for parole violation and failure to register as a sex offender.

In 1983 Lopez was convicted in San Patricio County of burglary of habitation with the intent to commit a sex offense, after an incident with a 15-year-old female. Lopez subsequently received a 70-year prison sentence. In early 2015, Lopez was released on parole and required to register as a sex offender for life. In November 2016, Lopez was moved from a transitional living facility in El Paso, Texas to an alternate housing residence in Houston. In January 2017, Lopez knowingly and intentionally cut off his monitor and absconded from the Houston facility. For more information on Lopez, please visit here.

Lopez has ties to San Patricio and Nueces counties, as well as the cities of Corpus Christie, Edroy, and Odem.

Lopez is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs approximately 180 pounds. He also has a tattoo of a cross on his let hand, and various other tattoos on his upper arms and left forearm. On his back, Lopez has tattoos reading “madre” and “padre.” Lopez may be known as “Mario” Lopez.

Texas Crime Stoppers, which is funded by the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of the Texas 10 Most Wanted fugitives or sex offenders. So far in 2017, Texas Crime Stoppers has paid $15,000 in total rewards for anonymous tips that resulted in arrests.

To be eligible for the cash rewards, tipsters must provide information to authorities using one of the five following methods:

·       Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).

·       Text the letters “DPS” – followed by your tip – to 274637 (CRIMES) from your cell phone.

·       Submit a web tip through the DPS website by selecting the fugitive you have information about, and then clicking on the link under their picture.

·       Submit a Facebook tip at http://www.facebook.com/texas10mostwanted by clicking the “SUBMIT A TIP” link (under the “About” section).

·       Submit a tip through the DPS Mobile App. The app is currently available for iPhone users on the Apple App Store: (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/texas-dps/id902092368?mt=8) and for Android users on Google Play: (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microassist.texasdps&hl=en).

All tips are anonymous regardless of how they are submitted, and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.

DPS works with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive and Sex Offender lists. For the current list, please click here.

DPS reminds everyone that these fugitives are considered armed and dangerous, so do not attempt to apprehend them.