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

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

Choose Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 within the least populated county in the continental United States, is going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of partaking in legal activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching household that settled in Loving County in the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, data show. He did not return telephone calls searching for comment. 

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

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, provided few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more costs are attainable.

The idea that the judge — who's paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses previously.

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

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few youngsters who stay there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of distinguished families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served because the judge for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county legal professional. His nephew is the constable. 

But some not too long ago elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole time since he’s been the decide,” mentioned 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 whatever he wants each time he needs.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas vegetation, water vegetation and salt water disposal methods. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower by means of the caliche and bedrock to release the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gasoline. 

The tax base hovers round $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 most of the top officers in town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, 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 got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly 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 live on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to love 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 nicely area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones failed to comply with the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

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

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent 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 again seat, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “nearly ran me over,” information show. However physique and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in response to internal affairs reviews. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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 show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency less than two years later, information show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch hands also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized criminal activity, information show. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone call.

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 remark.

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