Texas Top Ten Wanted

Reward Offered for Most Wanted Sex Offender from Houston

John Wayne Stoneham

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has added John Wayne Stoneham, 49, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list, and offered is a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to his capture. Stoneham, a high-risk sex offender, is wanted for parole violation and failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous.

Stoneham has ties to Houston. He has been wanted since May 2017, after he fled from a Houston facility where he has primarily resided since his 2012 parole from a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison. In 1991, Stoneham was convicted in Harris County of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault after multiple nighttime break-ins into the home of a 25-year-old woman. He subsequently received a 25-year prison sentence. Stoneham’s criminal history also includes indecency with a child-sexual contact involving a 13-year-old girl.

Stoneham is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs approximately 145 pounds. He has scars near his eyes and on his forehead, burn injuries on his upper arms, and a birthmark on the top right side of his back. Stoneham has used the alias names of “Kevin Johnson” and “John Williams” in the past. For more information or updates in the event of his arrest, see his wanted bulletin at http://www.dps.texas.gov/texas10mostwanted/MostWanted/SexOffenderDetails?id=388.

The Governor’s Criminal Justice Division funds the Texas Crime Stoppers, which 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 in 2017, Texas Crime Stoppers has paid $56,000 in total 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 five following methods:
Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).
Text the letters “DPS” – followed by your tip – to 274637 (CRIMES) from your cell phone.
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 at http://www.facebook.com/texas10mostwanted by clicking the “SUBMIT A TIP” link (under the “About” section).
Submit a tip to the DPS Mobile App. The app is currently available for iPhone users on the Apple App Store: (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/texas-dps/id902092368?mt=8) and Android users on Google Play: (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microassist.texasdps&hl=en).

All tips are anonymous – regardless of how they are submitted, and tipsters receive 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 listings, with photos, on the DPS website at http://www.dps.texas.gov/texas10mostwanted/.

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