DPS Searching for Wanted Child Predator from West Texas

ABILENE, TX – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Steve Garcia Lopez to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list, with a cash reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to his capture. Lopez, 53, is wanted for failing to register as a sex offender. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.

Lopez has been wanted since August 2018, when he absconded from his last known address in Abilene. He also has ties to Sweetwater, Texas, and areas of Jones County. In 1999, Lopez was convicted in Nolan County of aggravated sexual assault for an incident involving a 10-year-old girl. He received a five-year sentence in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison.

Lopez is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 155 pounds. He has tattoos on his upper back, the left side of his chest, his left wrist and right arm. He’s known to work as a laborer and has previously been employed as a painter. For more information or updates, see his wanted bulletin.

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 this year, Texas Crime Stoppers has paid $37,500 in rewards for anonymous tips that resulted in arrests.

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

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

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

·Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the “SUBMIT A TIP” link (under the “About” section).

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

DPS investigators work with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive and Sex Offender lists. You can find the current lists — with photos — on the DPS website.

Do not attempt to apprehend these fugitives; they are considered armed and dangerous.