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

Lawmen came to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county choose, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch hands 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 dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of participating in felony activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching family that settled in Loving County in the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information present. He didn't return phone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of partaking in felony 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're being targeted,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

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

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

The concept that the decide — who is paid $133,294 annually — 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 possibly can’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a ache within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat real hassle for it? It’s simply 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. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery retailer and no financial institution. The few youngsters who dwell there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles every 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 finally largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

But some not too long ago 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 household collectively. 

“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 sense of power and impunity that he can do no matter he needs whenever he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no flawed.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water disbursed from a group tank. 

But he presided over a period of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with large gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal methods. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce by way of the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gasoline. 

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

The salaries for lots of the prime officials on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no working water. “After I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones informed the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to dwell on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she came to love Loving County’s huge, 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 field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't comply with the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

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

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — thrice. 

In 2015, he was positioned on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler within the back seat, records 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,” records present. However physique and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs experiences. 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 determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, data present. 

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

Medlin additionally worked on Jones’ ranch earlier than being hired 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 engaging in organized felony activity, records present. He did not return a reporter’s cellphone name.

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 searching for remark.

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