DPS seeks escaped sex offender

Amarillo police arrested a man on felony drug charges after he tried to provoke officers in an unmarked car to engage in a street race early Thursday, police said.

Terry Deon Noble, 46, pulled up next to the officers in his red Ford Mustang at the intersection of Southeast Tenth Avenue and South Fillmore Street, while they were at a red light.

When the light turned green, Noble took off with his tires squealing on the pavement.

The officers immediately flashed their lights to pull the Mustang over in the next block.

Police asked Noble to step out of his car after they noticed a handgun case in the passenger seat. When they looked inside the box, they found several bags of methamphetamine.

Noble was arrested and booked into Potter County jail on charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, more than 1 gram but less than 4 grams and exhibition of acceleration.

Texas Department of Public Safety is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to a sex offender who escaped form a halfway house in Fort Worth Wednesday morning.

The DPS added Charles Raymond "Jake" Sprague, 44, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list after he was able to escape the halfway house and cut his ankle monitor.

After the abduction of a 19-year-old University of North Texas student in 1991, Sprague was sentenced to seven years in prison, authorities said.

Months after he was granted parole in 1995, Sprague pulled a gun on a female coworker during a ride home and forced her to drive to a rural area where he sexually assualted her, according to DPS records.

He was subsequently convicted of aggravated kidnapping by force and aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon and received a 15-year prison sentence, records show.

Sprague had been a part of Texas' civil commitment program since 2010 as a sexually violent predator, authorities said.

Sprague is of Native American ancestry and stands about 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds, authorities said.

He has a scar on his nose, forehead, and left eye.

He previously worked as a cook and laborer.

He should be considered armed and dangerous, authorities said, and is at high risk to reoffend.

Texas Crime Stoppers is asking anyone with information about Sprague to contact authorities to submit an anonymous tip through the Texas Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-252-8477 or by texting "DPS" followed by the tip to 274637.

Tips can also be submitted online through dps.texas.gov.

Police are investigating a Wednesday afternoon armed robbery on East Amarillo Boulevard.

A 24-year-old Amarillo man was robbed at by a man wielding a knife in a CVS parking lot.

The men came in contct when the victim was asking for help to find a place with a wire system to send some money, police said.

The robber had a large pocket knife, threatened the victim and stole an undisclosed amount of cash from the victim's hand, police said.

The suspect jumped in the back of a gray Isuzu pickup while the driver sped away.

Authorities describe the suspect as a bald, black man in his 30s who was wearing a black T-shirt with gray Dickies pants. The victim was not hurt during the incident.

Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call the Amarillo Police Department or call Amarillo Crime Stoppers at 374-4400.

A chase through a southwest Amarillo neighborhood ended with the arrest of an Amarillo man Tuesday.

Witnesses notified police Tuesday morning that a shirtless man covered in blood was standing in traffic and yelling at passing cars in the 2600 block of Paramount Boulevard.

The man - later identified as Jimmy Don Feerer Jr., 35, of Canyon - was moving from house to house screaming for help near South Western Street and Olsen Boulevard.

Feerer was found by police running in the 2700 block of South Nebraska Street.

An officer stopped Feerer in an effort to question him, but his responses made no sense, police said.

He couldn't explain who he was or how he had been injured.

The officer tried to lead the man back to his patrol car as he assured him an ambulance was on its way.

The man charged him and hit him in the head with his forearm and fled, police said.

The officer followed Feerer and tried using a taser and then a baton to stop him, but nothing worked, police said.

While on foot, Feerer forced his way into a nearby house.

The officer followed through the door and into the house, past a frightened woman and a man who had picked up a gun for protection.

The officer went into the kitchen where Feerer continued fighting with police as more officers arrived.

It took "two additional taser deployments" before Feerer could finally be handcuffed, police said.

Once under control, Feerer was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.

He was booked into Potter County jail on charges of assault on a public servant, evading arrest or detention, resisting arrest and criminal trespass.

Secret Service agents and Amarillo police arrested a man on a counterfeiting charge Thursday afternoon in southeast Amarillo.

About 4 p.m., the agencies were investigating a possible counterfeit currency operation at an apartment in the 3600 block of South Polk Street, according to an APD news release.

Jordan Kelly Leitner, 25, gave consent for officers to search the apartment.

Officers found about $250 in fake cash and a concealed computer printer.

Leitner, who was arrested by officers, was found to have a counterfeit $5 in his pocket, police said.

The bill appeared to match the other ones found in the apartment.

Officers also located forged checks that were linked to a January auto burglary in south Amarillo, police said.

Leitner was booked into Randall County jail on a charge of forgery of government security.