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

Lawmen came to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch fingers on one among Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

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

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching household that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He did not return telephone calls in search of remark. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of partaking in criminal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return cellphone calls, however his wife sent an e mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

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

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

The idea 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 previously.

“You may’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie fire with a tailwind by way of this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last 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 live there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county legal professional. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is not holding the Jones family together. 

“He’s had free reign for all the time since he’s been the judge,” said Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of energy and impunity that he can do no matter he wants at any time when he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no unsuitable.” 

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal systems. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce via the caliche and bedrock to release the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gas. 

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 top officers in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no running water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside in 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 effectively subject 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 did not comply with the regulation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the commission he just authorized the plea deals introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra training.

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, information present. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “almost ran me over,” information present. But physique and dash digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with internal affairs stories. 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 determined 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 lower than two years later, data show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch fingers also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized felony activity, information present. He didn't return a reporter’s telephone 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 searching for comment.

Along with the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and had been launched from jail.