DPS said James Lee Kirby, 49, was taken into custody July 17 at a remote campsite near Broken Bow Lake in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, just over a week after the agency announced he had been added to the state’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.According to DPS, 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 located Kirby after developing investigative leads. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol Tactical Team also assisted in the arrest, which DPS said was made without incident.
Fugitive was wanted in Oklahoma
DPS said Kirby had been wanted in Bryan County, Oklahoma, since Feb. 2 on a failure-to-appear warrant stemming from previous charges of first-degree rape and incest. The agency also said Grayson County, Texas, issued an arrest warrant for Kirby on June 2 alleging one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault.
According to DPS, Kirby was arrested in Grayson County on Nov. 5, 2024, on an aggravated sexual assault charge and was later released after posting bond. DPS said that while Kirby was on pretrial release in the Oklahoma case, his GPS monitoring device stopped operating shortly before his scheduled trial date, and he had been missing since then.
74
All allegations against Kirby remain pending in court, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
DPS credited cooperation among multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for Kirby’s arrest, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Marshals Service, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Bryan County Sheriff’s Office and Grayson County Sheriff’s Office.
According to DPS, no Texas Crime Stoppers reward will be paid in connection with Kirby’s arrest.
DPS said that, through funding from the Governor’s Public Safety Office, Texas Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of individuals on the Texas 10 Most Wanted lists. The agency said 49 people on those lists had been arrested in 2026 as of the announcement, including 35 sex offenders and eight gang members, with $61,500 in rewards paid for qualifying tips.