Former Texas County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested after being March Featured Fugitive

Staff Reports

AUSTIN – March’s Featured Fugitive James Bishop is back in custody following his arrest on March 28 near Ashland, Ore. No Crime Stoppers reward will be paid.

James Mark Bishop, 49, of Tulia, was arrested in a rural area east of Medford, Ore., by the U.S. Marshals Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force. The U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force, including Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Special Agents, assisted with coordinating the arrest.

Bishop had been wanted since July 2021, when the Tulia Police Department issued two warrants for continuous sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. The Texas County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma also issued a warrant to revoke Bishop’s probation for five counts of knowingly downloading child pornography.

Bishop was a deputy with the Texas County Sheriff’s Office in 2005 when he was arrested for sexual exploitation of a child. He was convicted in 2007 on five counts of knowingly downloading child pornography. In 2011, Bishop was released from prison.

He was placed on probation and subsequently moved to Tulia, Texas. In 2020, Bishop was arrested in Tulia for continuous sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact for incidents involving a 12-year-old girl. He was added to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List on Oct. 19, 2021. For more information, view his captured bulletin.

In the last five months, four of the five Texas Featured Fugitives of the Month have been captured. The captured Featured Fugitives of the Month include Charles Lee Tillman Jr. in November; Bobby Joe Flores Jr. in January; Joshua David Whitworth in February; and James Mark Bishop in March.

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 16 people off the lists, including five gang members and 10 sex offenders. In addition, $32,500 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.

DPS investigators work with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and Sex Offenders Lists. You can find the current lists — with photos — on the DPS website.

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