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

Lawmen came to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms on one among Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 within 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 selling stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, records present. He didn't return cellphone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of partaking in felony exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, but his wife sent an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, 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 extra charges are doable.

The concept the choose — 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 up to now.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie hearth with a tailwind through this West Texas county, population 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few children who dwell there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses lastly largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. 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 no longer holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the entire time since he’s been the decide,” mentioned Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of power and impunity that he can do whatever he desires whenever he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no improper.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as choose in 2007, many of the caliche roads had been rutted like washboards and residents still had to line up to get potable water allotted from a group 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 landscape is dotted with huge fuel vegetation, water crops and salt water disposal techniques. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce through the caliche and bedrock to unencumber the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and fuel. 

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

The salaries for many of the top officials in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

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 working water. “Once I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly 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 dwell in this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to love 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 well discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't follow the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including rushing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the fee he simply authorized the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional schooling.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place information present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’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, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” records present. But body and dash digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with inner affairs experiences. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors determined 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 company less than two years later, data show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch hands additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized felony activity, information show. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one depend of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter looking for comment.

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