AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces the capture of another Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender, Kenneth Hiner, who was arrested in Hays Co. last week. A Texas Crime Stoppers reward will not be paid for his arrest.
Kenneth O’Brien Hiner, 31, was taken into custody at a residence in Kyle on Friday, March 27. Working off investigative information, DPS Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Special Agents and Texas Highway Patrol (THP) Troopers located and arrested Hiner.
In 2013, Hiner was arrested by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for sexual assault and abusive sexual contact – assault. He was found guilty and sentenced to nine months in a military detention facility and received a bad conduct discharge. Since 2015, Hiner has been arrested on three separate occasions for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. Hiner had been wanted since January 2026 out of Nueces Co. for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. More information on Hiner’s capture can be found here.
Funded by the Governor’s Public Safety Office, Texas Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders or Criminal Illegal Immigrants. So far in 2026, DPS and other agencies arrested 17 Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants, including 12 sex offenders and 3 gang members – with $34,500 in rewards being 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, Sex Offenders and Criminal Illegal Immigrants 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.
