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

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

Judge 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 engaging in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching household that settled in Loving County within the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He didn't return cellphone calls in search of comment. 

Authorities also 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, however his wife sent an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full power.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, provided few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned by way of the Texas Division of Public Security, the association has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept the choose — 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 up to now.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to risk actual hassle for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold 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 school, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few youngsters who stay there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend college.

For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the decide 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 colourful commissioner’s court docket conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for the entire time since he’s been the judge,” mentioned 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 no matter he desires every time he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

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

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gasoline plants, water vegetation and salt water disposal methods. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower by means of 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 more than $28 million. 

The salaries for many of the high officers on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, 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 advised the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to live on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here to like Loving County’s huge, 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 hassle before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones did not observe the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets including rushing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he just accepted the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra training.

Medlin previously worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where data show 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, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” records show. 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 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 present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch fingers additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison exercise, data show. He didn't return a reporter’s phone call.

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 in search of remark.

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