The top 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 hands on certainly one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 within the least populated county within the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities said. 

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, information show. He did not return phone calls looking for remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of partaking in criminal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, but his wife sent an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

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

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

The concept that the decide — who's paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses prior 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 threat actual trouble for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold quicker than a prairie fireplace 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 store and no financial institution. The few youngsters who stay there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend college.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native government, with the Joneses finally largely popping 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 attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for your entire 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 no matter he needs every time he desires.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no fallacious.” 

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

But he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive gas vegetation, water crops and salt water disposal systems. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize through the caliche and bedrock to release the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gas. 

The tax base hovers round $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 on the town — the decide, 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, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no running water. “After I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to dwell in this godforsaken place?’” 

However 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 nicely subject that feeds Mentone. 

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

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

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place information present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’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 within the again seat, data show. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “virtually ran me over,” data show. But physique and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in line with inside affairs stories. He appealed once more, 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, information present. 

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

Medlin additionally worked on Jones’ ranch before being employed by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch arms additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal exercise, data show. He did not return a reporter’s phone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one depend 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 comment.

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