The top elected official in Loving County, Texas, charged with cattle theft 

Lawmen got here to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county choose, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch fingers on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 in the least populated county within the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of partaking in felony activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching family that settled in Loving County within the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, data present. He didn't return telephone calls looking for comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of partaking in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, however his spouse despatched an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being focused,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, provided few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned by way of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  certified peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, stated the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more prices are possible.

The concept that the judge — who is paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses up to now.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a pain within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few kids who stay there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

But some just lately elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s court docket conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your entire time since he’s been the judge,” stated Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a sense of power and impunity that he can do whatever he wants each time he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no unsuitable.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads have been rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line up to get potable water allotted from a community tank. 

However he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gas plants, water crops and salt water disposal systems. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce by means of the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gas. 

The tax base hovers around $7 billion to $9 billion. And the county’s price range has grown from about $2 million in 2008 to greater than $28 million. 

The salaries for most of the top officials on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no working water. “After I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside in this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to love Loving County’s huge, open skyline. She served as the county’s chief appraiser for years. Punk Jones, the sheriff for 28 years, is credited with discovering the freshwater well area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones did not comply with the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including dashing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the fee he simply authorised the plea deals offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional training.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place information show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — 3 times. 

In 2015, he was placed on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler within the back seat, data present. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” records present. However physique and sprint digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with inside affairs reviews. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors decided he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, information show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Office in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency lower than two years later, records present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin also worked on Jones’ ranch earlier than being hired by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch palms additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal activity, information show. He didn't return a reporter’s telephone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one count of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter seeking remark.

Along with the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were launched from jail.