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

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

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching family that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, data show. He didn't return cellphone calls in search of comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of participating in felony activity — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return cellphone calls, but his wife sent an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

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

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

The concept the decide — 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 prior to now.

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

Word of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie hearth with a tailwind via 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 faculty, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who live there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of outstanding households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses lastly largely popping out ahead. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

However some not too long ago elected county officials 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 not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the entire time since he’s been the choose,” mentioned 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 sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce by way of the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: 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 most of the top officers on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or increased. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no running water. “After I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I said 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 properly field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't comply with the legislation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

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

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

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, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other 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 keeping with inner affairs studies. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the videos.

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

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

Medlin also worked on Jones’ ranch earlier than being employed 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 prison activity, information 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 up to 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter in search of comment.

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