Three of Texas’ 10 most-wanted fugitives were arrested this month, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Thomas Correa Naranjo, 41, is affiliated with the Texas Syndicate gang. He was convicted of Attempted Capital Murder and Aggravated Robbery in 1998. He was given two 8-year sentences to be served concurrently. In 2008, he was convicted of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, and Possession with Intent to Deliver Cocaine. He was given a 10-year sentence and two 20-year sentences. He was released on parole in October 2019. In May 2021, he was arrested for Assault of Family/Household Member with Previous Conviction and subsequently bonded out.
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Naranjo had been wanted since May 2021. Working off investigative information, Houston Police Department SWAT arrested Naranjo in north central Houston on Aug. 10.
Another most-wanted fugitive, Rodney Eugene Hunter, 50, of Waco, Texas, was also arrested in August.
DPS Special Agents arrested Hunter in Waco on Aug. 9.
In 1992, Hunter was convicted of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and two counts of Burglary of a Habitation. He received three 9-year sentences to be served concurrently. In 1997, he was convicted of two counts of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact following incidents involving a 7-year-old girl. He received two 15-year sentences and was released in 2012. In May 2021, he was arrested for Forgery and subsequently bonded out.
Hunter had been wanted since February, after the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office issue a warrant for his arrest for Forgery. Additionally, on July 18, the Waco Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest for Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements.
Bruce Orville Clifton, 56, was also apprehended this month.
Working off tip information, members of the USMS Lone Star Fugitive Task Force along with members of the USMS District of New Mexico-Southwest Investigative Fugitive Task Force and New Mexico State Police located and arrested Clifton at a storage facility in Mesilla Park, New Mexico.
Clifton was convicted of sexual battery/physical force in Florida in 1998. Three years later, he was convicted of sexual assault of a child after an incident involving a 15-year-old girl in Dallas County. In 2003, he was convicted of sexual assault of a child following an incident involving a 14-year-old girl in Harris County and sentenced to 20 years of confinement. In 2013, he was convicted of possession of a deadly weapon in a penal institution.
Clifton was released on parole in May 2021. He violated his parole in January. In February, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Texas Crime Stoppers, which is funded by the Governor’s Criminal Justice Commission, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Fugitives or Sex Offenders.
So far in 2022, DPS and other agencies have arrested 44 people off the lists, including 17 gang members and 24 sex offenders. In addition, $72,000 in rewards has been 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.