On June 11, 2025, an Upshur County jury sentenced 56-year-old Ronald Wayne Stivers, originally from Illinois, to Life imprisonment in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Stivers was found guilty of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender-Habitual Offender.
Given Stivers' extensive criminal history of seven prior felony convictions, the State of Texas enhanced the range of punishment to 25 years to Life. The jury's decision reflects the severity of his habitual offender status.
Stivers' criminal record includes:
- May 16, 1986: Theft conviction in Illinois.
- July 5, 1989: Pleaded guilty to Criminal Trespass of Habitation in Illinois.
- June 11, 1998: Sentenced for Aggravated Sexual Assault (Adult Woman) - Count I and II in Illinois.
- June 11, 1998: Sentenced for Felony Escape in Illinois.
- June 11, 1998: Sentenced for Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault with a Deadly Weapon (Knife) in Illinois.
- June 11, 1998: Sentenced for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child (nine years of age) in Illinois.
- March 18, 2008: Sentenced for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in Illinois, receiving two years of probation.
- September 8, 2020: Sentenced for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in Florida, resulting in two years in prison.
The investigation that led to this life sentence began on June 25, 2024, when the Attorney General's Fugitive Task Force and the United States Marshal were tasked with investigating a potential failure to register sex offender. Their investigation revealed that in 2023, Stivers had fled Mississippi, where he was last registered, and traveled to Gladewater, Texas. He had met a woman through Facebook, moved in with her, allegedly lied about his identity, and altered his license plate in an attempt to conceal his status as a dangerous sexual predator. He was later forced out of the woman's home when his true identity was discovered. On June 17, 2024, Stivers was arrested by the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force.
The thorough investigation, managed by Sgt. Durr of the Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force at the Office of the Attorney General, with assistance from Deputy Yarborough of the United States Marshal, was credited for leading to the Life sentence assessed by the Upshur County jury.
The State was represented by Elected Criminal District Attorney Billy W. Byrd, and the case was presided over by the 115th District Judge, Dean Fowler.
