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

Lawmen got here to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms on one in all Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 in the least populated county within the continental United States, is dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of partaking in prison exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

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

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of engaging in prison exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, but his spouse sent an electronic mail 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 agency on the case, offered few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Division of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept the decide — who is paid $133,294 annually — 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 previously.

“You'll be able to’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a ache within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk real bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind through this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no financial institution. The few youngsters who reside there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of distinguished families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely popping out ahead. 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 attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

But some lately elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s courtroom meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is not holding the Jones family together. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete time since he’s been the decide,” 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 no matter he desires every time he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no mistaken.” 

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

But he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large fuel plants, water crops and salt water disposal methods. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize by means of the caliche and bedrock to free up the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and fuel. 

The tax base hovers round $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 lots 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 higher. 

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

But 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 properly subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't observe the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the commission he simply accepted the plea deals offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra education.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where information show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal 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 again seat, information present. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “nearly ran me over,” data present. But body and dash digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs stories. 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 determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, data present. 

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

Two ranch palms additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized felony activity, data show. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone call.

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

Along with the decide, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were released from jail.