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

Lawmen got here to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch hands on certainly 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 dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of partaking in prison activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching family that settled in Loving County within the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, data present. He did not return cellphone calls in search of comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of participating in criminal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, however his spouse sent an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, offered few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, stated the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more fees are possible.

The concept the decide — who is paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses prior to now.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a pain in 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.”

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

For many years, a handful of outstanding families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. 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 lately 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 not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole 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 power and impunity that he can do no matter he desires every 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 had to line up to get potable water allotted from a group tank. 

However he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large fuel vegetation, water vegetation and salt water disposal systems. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut through 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 prime officials in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “After I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to dwell in 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 well subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones did not comply with the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets together with dashing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the fee he just approved the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra schooling.

Medlin beforehand 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 — 3 times. 

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

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “nearly ran me over,” information present. However physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with inside affairs reports. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued one other 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 company less than two years later, information present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch fingers also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized prison exercise, data 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 up to 10 years in prison. He hung up on a reporter looking for remark.

Along with the judge, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were released from jail.