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

Lawmen came to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms on considered one of 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 facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in felony activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, records present. He did not return phone calls searching for remark. 

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

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

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

The idea that the decide — who is paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply 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 mentioned. “It’s a pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat actual bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie hearth with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, population 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few children who stay there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (population 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 control of the native authorities, with the Joneses finally largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

However some recently elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s courtroom meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer holding the Jones household 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 way of power and impunity that he can do no matter he wants whenever he needs.  Even the sensation 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 still needed to line as much as get potable water distributed 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 massive gas crops, water vegetation and salt water disposal techniques. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce by way of the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and fuel. 

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

The salaries for most of the high officials on the town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no running water. “After I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to reside on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here 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 well area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't comply with the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets together with dashing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the commission he simply approved the plea offers 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 Department, where records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’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 within the again seat, data 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,” data show. But physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inner affairs studies. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

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

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

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

Two ranch fingers additionally had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison exercise, records present. He did not return a reporter’s phone call.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one count of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter in search of remark.

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