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 palms on one in all Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge 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 count of participating in felony exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching household that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, records present. He did not return telephone calls in search of comment. 

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

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead company on the case, supplied few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Department of Public Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept the judge — who's 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 can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a pain within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger real hassle for it? It’s simply 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 final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few kids who live there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

However some lately elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court docket conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the complete time since he’s been the judge,” stated 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 at any time when he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no fallacious.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as judge in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless needed to line up to get potable water distributed from a group tank. 

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with huge fuel plants, water plants and salt water disposal methods. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize through the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gasoline. 

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

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

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no working water. “After 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 said to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to stay in this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here to love Loving County’s vast, open skyline. She served because the county’s chief appraiser for years. Punk Jones, the sheriff for 28 years, is credited with discovering the freshwater effectively discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't follow the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he just authorised the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional schooling.

Medlin previously worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where information present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal 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 within the back seat, records present. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “virtually ran me over,” records show. However body and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in line with inside affairs reports. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, data show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Office in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency lower than two years later, data 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 arms also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized legal 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 seeking comment.

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