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

Lawmen came to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 within the least populated county within the continental United States, is going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of partaking in legal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, data show. He didn't return telephone calls searching for comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of partaking in criminal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, but his spouse sent an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, supplied few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra fees are possible.

The idea that the decide — who's paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply an excessive amount of for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses prior to now.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger real hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind via this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few kids who dwell there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for all the time since he’s been the decide,” said Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of power and impunity that he can do whatever he needs every time he desires.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as judge in 2007, many of the caliche roads had been rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water distributed from a group tank. 

However he presided over a period of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with large gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal systems. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce via the caliche and bedrock to free up the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and fuel. 

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

The salaries for lots of the prime officials on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to reside on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here to love Loving County’s huge, open skyline. She served because the county’s chief appraiser for years. Punk Jones, the sheriff for 28 years, is credited with discovering the freshwater well discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones failed to comply with the regulation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the commission he simply accepted the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra schooling.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place information show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal of being fired — thrice. 

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

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” data present. But physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs stories. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, records show. 

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

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

Two ranch palms also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized felony activity, records present. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone 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 searching for comment.

In addition to the decide, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and had been released from jail.