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 fingers on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 in the least populated county within the continental United States, is going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of participating in felony exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

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

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

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, supplied few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

The concept that the decide — who's 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 previously.

“You'll be able to’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 threat real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by way of 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 retailer and no financial institution. The few kids who dwell 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 outstanding families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the judge 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 not too long ago elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s courtroom conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is not holding the Jones family together. 

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

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

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

The tax base hovers round $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 many of the high officers on the 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 mom, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no operating water. “When I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones told the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to stay in this godforsaken place?’” 

However 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 nicely field that feeds Mentone. 

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

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he simply authorized the plea offers offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent of being fired — three 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, data show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “nearly ran me over,” information present. But physique and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in response to internal affairs stories. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when 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, information show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Office in January 2019 and “separated” from the company less than two years later, data show. (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 arms also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized legal exercise, information present. He did not return a reporter’s telephone name.

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 looking for remark.

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