AUSTIN - The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Albert Merell Jr., 42, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender list, with a cash reward of up to $3,000 offered for information leading to his capture. Merell is wanted for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.
Merell has been wanted since April 2017, when he absconded from his last known address in Fort Worth. He also has ties to Corpus Christi, Fort Bend County and to southern Tarrant County, including the city of Rendon, Texas. In 2001, Merell was convicted in Nueces County of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping following an incident with a 25-year-old woman. He received a 15 year sentence in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison.
Merell is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He has a tattoo under his right eye and has scars on his right shoulder, left wrist, right forearm and upper right arm. For more information or to see updates if he is arrested, view 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 the 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, and then clicking on the link under their picture.
- 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.
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