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

Choose Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 in the least populated county in the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of participating in legal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching family that settled in Loving County within the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He did not return cellphone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of participating in felony activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return telephone calls, however his wife sent an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

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

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

The idea that the decide — 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 mentioned. “It’s a pain within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger actual bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind through this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who stay there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local government, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served because the judge for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is not holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your 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 sense of energy and impunity that he can do whatever he desires every time he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no unsuitable.” 

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gas plants, water plants and salt water disposal programs. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by means of the caliche and bedrock to free up the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and fuel. 

The tax base hovers around $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 many of the prime officers in town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame house with no running water. “Once I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to stay on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came 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 subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones failed to follow the law by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including rushing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the fee he simply authorized the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra schooling.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’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 show. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” information present. However physique and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on inner affairs reports. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the videos.

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

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency less than two years later, data present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

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

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one count of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He hung up on a reporter searching for comment.

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