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 decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

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

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County within the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information present. He didn't return cellphone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of partaking in felony activity — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, but his wife despatched an electronic 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, supplied few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Division of Public Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra prices 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 may’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a ache in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger real hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie hearth with a tailwind by this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who live there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend college.

For decades, a handful of outstanding households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native government, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county legal professional. His nephew is the constable. 

However some not too long ago elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your entire 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 energy and impunity that he can do whatever he wants each time he needs.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, most of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless needed to line as much as get potable water distributed from a neighborhood tank. 

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

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

The salaries for many of the prime officials on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, 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 running water. “Once I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to live in this godforsaken place?’” 

However she came to like 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 nicely area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, 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 including speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the commission he just accepted the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra education.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place data present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal of being fired — 3 times. 

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

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” information present. But body and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with inner affairs experiences. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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, data present. 

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

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

Two ranch hands additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized prison exercise, records show. He didn't return a reporter’s phone name.

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

In addition to the judge, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and have been launched from jail.