A Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive is back in custody after being captured in rural Southeastern Oklahoma on Friday – just over a week after announcing he was added to the list. A Texas Crime Stoppers reward will not be paid for his arrest.
James Lee Kirby, 49, was taken into custody on July 17, 2026, at a remote campsite near Broken Bow Lake in McCurtain Co, Okla. Working off investigative information, members of the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Oklahoma Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force, with tactical assistance from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Tactical Team, located and arrested Kirby without incident.
Kirby had been wanted out of Bryan Co., Okla. since Feb. 2, 2026, for failure to appear, resulting from prior charges of first-degree rape and incest. On June 2, 2026, another warrant was issued out of Grayson Co., Texas, for his arrest for one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault. On Nov. 5, 2024, Kirby was arrested in Grayson Co. for aggravated sexual assault. Several weeks later, he posted bond and was released from jail. In early 2026, while Kirby was on pre-trial release for the first-degree rape and incest charges out of Oklahoma, his GPS monitoring device stopped operating right before the trial date, and he had been missing ever since. More information about Kirby can be found here.
Kirby’s apprehension was possible through outstanding coordination between multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies across state lines, including: the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the United States Marshals Service Eastern District of Oklahoma Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, the Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP), the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), the Bryan Co. Sheriff’s Office and the Grayson Co. Sheriff’s Office.
Funded by the Governor’s Public Safety Office, Texas Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders or Criminal Illegal Immigrants. So far in 2026, DPS and other agencies have arrested 49 Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants, including 35 sex offenders and eight gang members – with $61,500 in rewards being paid for tips that yielded arrests.
To be eligible for cash rewards, tipsters MUST provide information to authorities using one of the following three 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 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 Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants Lists. You can find the current lists — with photos — on the DPS website.
Article source and photo credit: Texas Department of Public Safety
