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 decide, 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 within the least populated county in the continental United States, is going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of engaging in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

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, records show. He didn't return cellphone calls looking for comment. 

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

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 Safety, the association has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the judge — who's paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just 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 stated. “It’s a pain within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger actual hassle for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fire with a tailwind via this West Texas county, population 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few kids who reside there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and travel about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native government, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. 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 courtroom 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,” mentioned Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of energy and impunity that he can do whatever he desires whenever he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no improper.” 

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive gasoline plants, water vegetation and salt water disposal methods. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by way of the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gas. 

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

The salaries for many of the top officers in town — the judge, 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 home with no working water. “After I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to live on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here 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 nicely subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones did not observe the legislation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the commission he simply authorised the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional schooling.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal 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 enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “almost ran me over,” data show. However body and sprint digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on inner affairs reports. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the videos.

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

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Office in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency lower 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 arms additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal activity, data show. He did not return a reporter’s cellphone name.

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

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