Press Releases

EL PASO – It is with great sadness the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces the death of a Trooper in El Paso County. Sergeant Paul Mooney, 52, died Monday, June 14, 2021. He was battling cancer and was recently hospitalized with COVID-19.

AUSTIN – As temperatures rise this summer, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is urging the public to take extra safety precautions to avoid some common heat-related dangers, especially for vulnerable populations like children and the elderly.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Brett James Martinson to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list. Martinson, 47, is wanted for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements, aggregate theft and a parole violation. Texas Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and capture of Martinson.

AUSTIN – More than a decade after she was last seen alive, a person has been charged in the cold case slaying of Mitchell County eighth-grader Hailey Dunn. Shawn Casey Adkins, 35, of Big Spring, was arrested Monday, June 14, in Big Spring and charged with one count of murder in the death of 13-year-old Dunn.

EL PASO – A multi-agency effort, led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), has resulted in the recovery of 24 missing and/or runaway children throughout El Paso County and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) recently announced the promotion of Susan Oballe to assistant chief for the Chief Auditor’s Office. The promotion, effective June 10, was approved at the June meeting of the Public Safety Commission (PSC). She’ll be stationed at DPS headquarters in Austin.

AUSTIN – The Texas Public Safety Commission (PSC) along with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steven McCraw presented two Adolph Thomas Distinguished Service Awards and three Lifesaving Awards to department personnel at the PSC meeting on Thursday, June 10, at DPS Headquarters in Austin. One Director’s Award was also presented to a member of a partner agency at the meeting.

AUSTIN – Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Tieon Lashad Legan is back in custody after investigators received a Crime Stoppers tip about his whereabouts. Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Special Agents and Tarrant County Sheriff’s deputies used the information to locate and arrest Legan at an apartment complex in Fort Worth on June 1. A reward of $7,500 will be paid to the tipster.

AUSTIN – On Monday, May 31, 2021, Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash on US 83 and Suntex Road, just west of Rio Grande City, Texas.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added Margaret Lorrain Smith to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. Smith, 62, has been wanted since 2009 for fleeing during her capital murder case. Texas Crime Stoppers is now offering a cash reward of up to $7,500 for information leading to her arrest and capture.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) wants to remind drivers to travel safely as we close out May and head into the Memorial Day holiday. Monday, May 24, through Monday, May 31, Texas Highway Patrol Troopers will participate in Click It or Ticket, an enforcement campaign to encourage people to wear their seat belt, as well as Operation CARE (Crash Awareness Reduction Effort), looking for drivers who are intoxicated, speeding or breaking other traffic laws.

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) remembered and paid tribute to Texas Highway Patrol Troopers, Texas Rangers and Special Agents who lost their lives in the line of duty at today’s 2021 Peace Officers Memorial Service.

AUSTIN – The former landlord of a Llano County woman who went missing in 2006 is now charged in her death. On May, 3, 2021, Jimmy Wolfenbarger, 57, of Lubbock, was indicted in Llano County on one count of murder in the November 2006 death of Holly Simmons, 46, of Buchanan Dam.

AUSTIN – An Ohio man is now in custody charged in the 1995 death of a beloved Texas teacher. Clayton Bernard Foreman, 61, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was arrested April 26 in Franklin County, Ohio.

AUSTIN – In the last week authorities have captured two of Texas’ Top 10 fugitives. Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Eric Munoz was captured on May 4, 2021, in Donna, Texas, during Operation Lone Star, while Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender Marcus Lee Torres was arrested on May 7, 2021, in Snyder, Texas