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

Lawmen got here to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county choose, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch fingers on one in every of 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 depend of partaking in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information present. He didn't return telephone calls searching for comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of engaging in felony activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return telephone calls, but his spouse despatched an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full power.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, offered few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned by the Texas Department of Public Security, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra charges are attainable.

The idea that the choose — who is 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 prior to now.

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

Word of the arrests spread faster than a prairie hearth with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who dwell there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 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 control of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally 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. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones family together. 

“He’s had free reign for the entire time since he’s been the judge,” stated 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 every time he wants.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no mistaken.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, most of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless needed to line as much as get potable water disbursed from a neighborhood tank. 

But 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 huge gasoline plants, water plants and salt water disposal methods. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gas. 

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

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

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no working water. “When I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones told the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to dwell in this godforsaken place?’” 

But she got here to like Loving County’s huge, 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 area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones failed to observe the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including rushing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the commission he simply accredited the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further education.

Medlin beforehand 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 — 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 again seat, records show. 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 show. But physique and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on inside affairs experiences. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when 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 Office in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency less than two years later, information show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch palms also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized legal exercise, information present. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one rely 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 have been released from jail.