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

Decide 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 count of partaking in felony activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, records show. He didn't return telephone calls looking for 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 maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return cellphone calls, however his wife despatched an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full power.” 

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

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

The idea that the judge — who's paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses in the past.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a ache within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger actual trouble for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie hearth 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 children who live there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native authorities, with the Joneses finally largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide for more 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 recently elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court docket meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones household collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete 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 whenever he needs.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no fallacious.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as choose in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents still had to line as much as get potable water dispensed from a neighborhood tank. 

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large fuel vegetation, water crops and salt water disposal systems. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by way of the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and gasoline. 

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 lots of the prime officers on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, 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 running water. “After I first got here 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 long are we going to stay in this godforsaken place?’” 

But she got here to like 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 properly subject that feeds Mentone. 

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

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the fee he just authorised the plea deals introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further schooling.

Medlin previously worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where information show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — 3 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, records present. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “virtually ran me over,” data present. However physique and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inside affairs experiences. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when 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, records show. 

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

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

Two ranch hands additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison activity, data present. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one rely of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in prison. He hung up on a reporter seeking comment.

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