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 palms on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Choose Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 in the least populated county in the continental United States, is going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of participating in legal activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities stated. 

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

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

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, supplied few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the judge — who is 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 up to now.

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

Word of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie hearth with a tailwind through this West Texas county, population 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few youngsters who stay there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles each 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 authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the decide for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for your entire time since he’s been the decide,” stated 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 desires each time he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no wrong.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as judge in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents still needed to line up to get potable water disbursed from a community tank. 

However he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with large fuel plants, water vegetation and salt water disposal methods. Lots 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 financial system: oil and gas. 

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

The salaries for many of the prime officials in town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

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

But she came 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 field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones failed to follow the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed 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 training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place data present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal of being fired — thrice. 

In 2015, he was placed on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler in the again seat, data show. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “nearly ran me over,” information show. However body and sprint digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, according to inner affairs experiences. 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 also worked on Jones’ ranch before being hired by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch palms additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized criminal activity, records present. He didn't return a reporter’s phone 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 in search of remark.

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