In this edition of Most Wanted, DX focuses on those accused of family violence.
North Texas Crime Stoppers is offering rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of any of the following individuals submitted through their tipline by phone or online.
Here is a rundown of some of the most wanted suspects charged with family violence in Dallas County.
Gisselle Cano appeared on the Crime Stoppers website on May 10 after her bond was found insufficient. The 24-year-old has been charged with abandoning or endangering a child with criminal negligence.
Ronaldo Morales Lopez is a non-U.S. citizen from Guatemala whose bond was found insufficient, landing him on the most wanted list on June 7.
The 39-year-old was arrested by Carrollton police in 2020 after allegedly using a hot knife to burn a woman with whom he was living and dating at the time. His bond was set at $150,000 for charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (family violence). He successfully bonded out after declaring himself to have been worth $300,000.
Victoria Sloan is being sought in connection with the assault of a family member in May. The 28-year-old apparently has a previous conviction for this same offense, which enhanced the charges to a third-degree felony.
Melonie Lynn Sharp was arrested in 2017 after knowingly exposing drug use and paraphernalia to a child in Richardson. The 49-year-old was arrested on charges of abandoning or endangering a child, pleaded guilty, and bonded out.
She was eventually given four years of probation but violated the terms several times in the following years. As a result, she was placed on the Crime Stoppers website on June 6.
Abe Perkins is wanted for violating probation after being charged twice with assault impeding breath (family violence) in 2018 and 2020.
In both instances, the victim was a person the 30-year-old was dating and living with in Dallas. It is said that in the first episode, he strangled the woman and attempted to block her nose and mouth, and in the second, he strangled her, hit her, and bit her.
Perkins, who was also charged with burglary, was put on probation and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device. However, he was found to be non-compliant for the first time in 2020 after failing to charge the device.
In Dallas, family violence has been a considerable issue. As of July 28, 7,904 crimes reported this year were thought to involve members of a family or household, according to data from the City. Of the 7,904 victims of family violence crime, 71.7% of them have been female, 47.7% of them black, and 38.2% of them Hispanic.
Although the lion’s share of these crimes have been assault offenses, kidnappings (80), rapes (53), and murders (19) also figure.
The Dallas Police Department has a unit dedicated to domestic violence cases. Nevertheless, just around 3,000 officers protect and serve the city, which falls woefully short of the staffing levels previously advised in a City report.
However, getting DPD up to the recommended 4,000 officers may prove difficult given its small budget of $654 million this fiscal year. This is far less than the spending levels on police seen in other high-crime jurisdictions.