Months on the run ended in the parking lot of a Houston apartment complex on Thursday, when officers closed in on Carl James Hegert, a 40-year-old fugitive listed on Texas’ 10 Most Wanted sex offenders list. Hegert had been wanted since October 2025 on warrants out of Waller and San Jacinto counties.
Special agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol troopers from the TAG Violent Crimes Unit, and members of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force carried out the arrest on February 18, according to MyTexasDaily. The outlet reports that the capture did not come from a Texas Crime Stoppers tip, so no reward money will change hands in this case.
What He Was Wanted For
Per the Texas Department of Public Safety captured list and its Texas Department of Public Safety 10 Most Wanted sex offenders page, Hegert had been sought since October 2025 on a larceny warrant out of Waller County and a warrant from San Jacinto County for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Those DPS listings also detail his prior convictions, including sexual assault of a child and theft of a firearm, which helped land him on the state’s most wanted roster in the first place.
Task Force Work And Next Steps
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force regularly teams up with state and local agencies to track down violent fugitives and sex offenders, relying on multiagency coordination for operations like Thursday’s arrest.
Hegert was released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in January 2025, MyTexasDaily reports, and he now faces the outstanding warrants that led to his placement on the list.
Prosecutors in Waller and San Jacinto counties will decide how to proceed once he is formally booked, with upcoming court filings expected to spell out the exact charges and hearing dates. Authorities have not yet released booking details or announced a first court appearance.
