The top 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 hands on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 within the least populated county within the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of participating in felony exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

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

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of participating in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, but his wife sent an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being focused,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, offered few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Department of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the decide — 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 up to now.

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

Phrase of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie fire with a tailwind by way of this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few children who dwell there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend school.

For many years, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

But some just lately elected county officers 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 no longer holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole time since he’s been the choose,” mentioned Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of power and impunity that he can do whatever he needs every time he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as choose in 2007, most of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents still needed to line up to get potable water dispensed from a group tank. 

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

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

The salaries for most of the prime officers on the town — the choose, 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, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no operating water. “Once I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones told the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to dwell on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came 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 properly area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't follow the regulation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets together with rushing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he simply permitted the plea deals introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra training.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal 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 within the again seat, information show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “nearly ran me over,” records present. However body and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs reports. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued one other 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 present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin also worked on Jones’ ranch before being employed by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch fingers additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized felony activity, records present. He did not 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 decide, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were released from jail.