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 judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on one in all Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

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

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching household that settled in Loving County within the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, data show. He didn't return phone calls in search of remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of partaking in legal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return phone calls, however his wife despatched an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead company on the case, provided few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned by means 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, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more prices are possible.

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

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

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

For many years, a handful of outstanding households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local government, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide 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 not too long ago elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s courtroom meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer holding the Jones household collectively. 

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

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 disbursed from a neighborhood tank. 

But he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with huge fuel vegetation, water vegetation and salt water disposal methods. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower via the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and fuel. 

The tax base hovers around $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 top officials on the town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

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

But she got here to love Loving County’s vast, 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 subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones failed to follow the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including rushing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he simply accredited the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further education.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where information present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal of being fired — three times. 

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

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

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors determined 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, data show. (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 hands also were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal activity, information show. He did not return a reporter’s telephone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one depend of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter searching for comment.

In addition to the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were released from jail.