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

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

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 in the least populated county within the continental United States, is dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of participating in prison exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities stated. 

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 launched on $20,000 bond, information show. He didn't return phone calls looking for comment. 

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

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead company on the case, supplied few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Division 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 affiliation, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra fees are possible.

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

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

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

But some lately 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 decide,” stated Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a sense of energy and impunity that he can do no matter he desires whenever he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as choose in 2007, many of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents still needed to line up to get potable water dispensed from a group tank. 

But he presided over a period of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gasoline plants, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower by way of the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and gasoline. 

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

The salaries for most of the top officers in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right 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 told the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to live on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here 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 effectively area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't observe the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including rushing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the fee he just accredited the plea deals offered 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 department’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 within the back seat, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “virtually ran me over,” records show. However physique and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inner affairs stories. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors decided 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 company lower than two years later, information present. (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 palms also were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison exercise, data present. He did not return a reporter’s telephone call.

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

Along with the judge, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and had been launched from jail.