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

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the top 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 criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching household that settled in Loving County in the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information present. He didn't return cellphone calls looking for remark. 

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

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, supplied few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, stated the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more fees are doable.

The idea that the choose — 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 previously.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger real trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie hearth with a tailwind by way of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few children who reside there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend college.

For many years, a handful of outstanding households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native government, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as 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. 

But some not too long ago elected county officials 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 household together. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole 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 energy and impunity that he can do whatever he desires each time he desires.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

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

But he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with huge gas plants, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower 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 funds has grown from about $2 million in 2008 to greater than $28 million. 

The salaries for lots of the top officials in town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

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

But she came to like Loving County’s huge, 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 subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't comply with 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 advised the commission he simply accepted the plea offers offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further training.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where data present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — thrice. 

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 show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “almost ran me over,” records show. However physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, according to inner affairs reviews. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors decided 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 less than two years later, data present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin also labored on Jones’ ranch before being hired 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 interesting in organized felony activity, records show. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone name.

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 seeking remark.

Along with the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were released from jail.