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

Lawmen came to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county choose, 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 in the least populated county in the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of partaking in prison activity, 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 Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, data show. He didn't return cellphone calls in search of remark. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of participating in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return cellphone calls, but his spouse despatched an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

Officers 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 Security, the association has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, stated the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra prices are doable.

The concept the choose — who is paid $133,294 annually — 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'll be able to’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a pain in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to risk real bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie fire with a tailwind through 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 college, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few kids who live there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of distinguished families 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 decide 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. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones family collectively. 

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

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

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

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

The salaries for most of the top officers on the town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, 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 house with no operating water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones told the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to dwell 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 well subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't follow the legislation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the commission he just accepted the plea deals introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent 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 in the back seat, information present. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” data show. However physique and sprint digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on internal affairs stories. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors determined 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, information show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin additionally labored on Jones’ ranch before 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 interesting in organized legal exercise, information 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 prison. He hung up on a reporter looking for comment.

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