Wanted sex offender Steve Garcia Lopez has ties to Abilene, Sweetwater

One of the 10 most wanted sex offenders in Texas has ties to Abilene and Sweetwater.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has added Steve Garcia Lopez, 53, to its Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list because he failed to register as a sex offender, according to the DPS. 

There is a cash reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to his capture.

In 1999, Lopez was convicted in Nolan County of aggravated sexual assault involving a 10-year-old girl and sentenced to five years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison, according to a wanted poster on the DPS website.

Steve Garcia Lopez

He returned to prison in 2014 after being convicted in Nolan County on a sex offender registration violation. He was discharged from TDCJ in July 2016, the poster said. 

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for Lopez on Aug. 22, 2018, for failure to register as a sex offender, the poster said. 

Lopez stands 5 feet 6 inches and weighs about 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, the DPS said in a news release.

How to submit a tip

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 1-800-252-8477.

► Submit a web tip at dps.texas.gov/Texas10MostWanted/MostWanted by selecting the fugitive for which you have information, then click on the link under the photo.

► Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the “Submit a Tip” link (under the “About” section).

Laura Gutschke is a general assignment reporter and food columnist and manages online content for the Reporter-News.  If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com