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 arms on 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 depend of partaking in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

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

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of participating in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return cellphone calls, however his wife despatched an e mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being focused,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead company on the case, supplied few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned by way of the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the judge — who is 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 in the past.

“You'll be able to’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a ache within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

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

For decades, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the decide for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

But some recently elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s court meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete time since he’s been the decide,” said 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 no matter he wants at any time when he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

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

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large fuel plants, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce through the caliche and bedrock to release 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 greater than $28 million. 

The salaries for most of the high officers on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no working water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to dwell on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to love Loving County’s vast, open skyline. She served because the county’s chief appraiser for years. Punk Jones, the sheriff for 28 years, is credited with discovering the freshwater effectively area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones did not comply with the regulation by charging steep charges — 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 advised the fee he simply permitted the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further training.

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

In 2015, he was positioned on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler in the again seat, data present. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” records present. However physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, according to internal affairs experiences. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors decided he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, data show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace 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 hired by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch arms additionally had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized legal exercise, data show. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone name.

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

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