30-Year Prison Sentence in Child Sexual Abuse Case

Texas Attorney General’s Office

TULIA, TEXAS (News Release) – A Tulia man has been sentenced to 30 years in the Institutional Division of Texas Department of Corrections for child sexual abuse violations in Swisher County, Texas.

James Mark Bishop, 52, pleaded guilty on August 28, 2024, to two charges of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child and Sexual Performance of a Child and was sentenced to 30 years in state prison by the Honorable Kregg Hukill, for the 242nd District Court in Swisher County, Texas.

Bishop was charged with sexually abusing his then 12-year-old niece in 2018. Bishop, a convicted sex offender out of Oklahoma, was living in Tulia, Texas and working as a truck driver while abusing his family member and soliciting child pornography. During the course of the investigation, the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) learned the defendant was still facing prison time for his original sentence in Oklahoma for Knowingly Downloading Child Pornography and provided the basis for the revocation of the defendant’s parole in Oklahoma.

Shortly before Bishop could be revoked in Oklahoma, the defendant fled the state of Texas. After almost a year as a fugitive listed on Texas Most Wanted, the defendant was captured in Oregon by the U.S. Marshals Task Force and brought back to Texas in 2022 by a joint effort of federal law enforcement and the OAG. Bishop’s parole was revoked in Oklahoma, where he was sentenced to 33 years in prison. Additionally, Bishop was sentenced to 10 years in the federal penitentiary for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in late 2022.

This case was investigated by Sgt. Brian Seales from the Texas Attorney General’s Office and by the Tulia Police Department. Assistant Attorney General Brenda Cantu prosecuted the case and was assisted by Swisher County Attorney Amy McAtee.