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

Lawmen came to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on certainly one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 within 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 exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

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

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of partaking in felony exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return cellphone calls, however his wife despatched an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, offered few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned by means of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the choose — who's 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 possibly can’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a pain in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger actual hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few youngsters who live there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for more 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 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 no longer holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole time since he’s been the choose,” stated 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 whatever he wants at any time when he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as judge in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads have been rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water dispensed from a community tank. 

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gas vegetation, water vegetation and salt water disposal programs. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut via the caliche and bedrock to free up 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 prime officers in town — the judge, 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 into a wood-frame home with no working water. “When I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to like 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 nicely area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't comply with the law by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including rushing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

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

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent of being fired — three times. 

In 2015, he was positioned on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler in the back seat, data 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,” records show. But physique and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in line with internal affairs experiences. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, information present. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the company lower than two years later, records show. (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 hands additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized criminal exercise, data present. He didn't return a reporter’s phone call.

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

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