AUSTIN, Texas — Two of Texas' 10 most wanted sex offenders, Joe Louis Hernandez and Phillip Mark Ward, have both been arrested.
Hernandez turned himself in at the Galveston Police Department on Feb. 10.
He had been wanted since January 2021, after Galveston police issued a warrant for failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
In 1998, Hernandez was convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child for incidents involving girls ages 2 and 7.
He was sentenced to eight years in a TDCJ prison.
In 2007, Hernandez was sentenced to an additional two years after being convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm.
In 2010, he was convicted of failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements and was given three years in prison.
Members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force and Forth Worth police arrested Ward on Feb. 8. at a local shelter.
He had been wanted since March 2021 on a warrant for a parole violation.
The Fort Worth Police Department also issued him a warrant for failing to register as a sex offender.
In 1992, Ward was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child following incidents involving an 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.
He was sentenced to 75 years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison. He was released on parole in February 2017.
