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

Lawmen got here to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch hands on considered 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 facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information present. He did not return cellphone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of engaging in prison activity — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, however his wife sent an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

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 by way of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  certified peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept the judge — who is paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just an excessive amount of for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses in the past.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a pain within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to threat actual bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie hearth with a tailwind via this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few children who reside there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the complete time since he’s been the judge,” stated 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 desires at any time when he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no wrong.” 

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

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas plants, water vegetation and salt water disposal techniques. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gasoline. 

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 officers on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or increased. 

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

However 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 properly subject that feeds Mentone. 

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

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he simply accredited the plea deals introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional schooling.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place data present 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 again 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,” information present. But physique and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in response to internal affairs experiences. 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, records show. 

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

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

Two ranch fingers also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized criminal activity, data present. He didn't return a reporter’s phone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one rely of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in prison. He hung up on a reporter in search of remark.

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