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 decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on one in all Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide 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 participating in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He did not return phone calls looking for remark. 

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

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead agency on the case, offered few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned by means of the Texas Division of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra fees are potential.

The idea that the decide — who is paid $133,294 annually — 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 previously.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat actual trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fire with a tailwind by this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the last 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 bank. The few kids who dwell there board the bus in the only city, 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 control of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the decide for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

But some recently 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 family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete time since he’s been the choose,” 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 wants whenever he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no mistaken.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads have been rutted like washboards and residents still had to line up to get potable water disbursed from a neighborhood tank. 

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

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

The salaries for most of the prime officers on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, 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 house with no operating water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to stay on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here 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 properly discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones did not comply with the legislation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told 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 education.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal 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 in the again seat, records present. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” data show. However physique and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inside affairs reviews. 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 present. 

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

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

Two ranch hands also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison activity, data show. He didn't return a reporter’s phone call.

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

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