The highest 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 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 going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of engaging in prison activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of participating in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return cellphone calls, however his wife sent 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, supplied few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Department of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  certified peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The idea that the judge — who's paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just 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 pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat actual hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie hearth 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 college, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who reside there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend college.

For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely popping out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as 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. 

However some just lately elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s courtroom meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for all the 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 energy and impunity that he can do no matter he needs whenever he wants.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no wrong.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as choose in 2007, many of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water allotted from a group tank. 

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive fuel plants, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize by the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and fuel. 

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 lots of the top officers in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or increased. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no running water. “After I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones told the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to live in 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 effectively field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones did not follow the law by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

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

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where records present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent of being fired — three times. 

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

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” records show. However physique and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on internal affairs experiences. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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, records present. 

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

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

Two ranch arms additionally had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized felony activity, data show. He did not return a reporter’s phone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one count of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter seeking remark.

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