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

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

Choose 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 engaging in criminal activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, data present. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of engaging in prison exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return telephone calls, but his wife despatched an e mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full power.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, offered few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned by way of the Texas Division of Public Safety, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the judge — who is paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was just an excessive amount of for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses in the past.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a ache within the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to threat actual trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by this West Texas county, population 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few youngsters who live there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and travel 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 control of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally largely popping 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 legal professional. 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 court docket conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer holding the Jones household together. 

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

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

However he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with massive fuel vegetation, water crops and salt water disposal techniques. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut via the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gasoline. 

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

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

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 fairly 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?’” 

But she got here to like Loving County’s huge, 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 discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't comply with the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the fee he just approved the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further education.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where records 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 back seat, data show. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “almost ran me over,” information show. But physique and sprint digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in accordance with inner affairs stories. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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, information show. 

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 also labored on Jones’ ranch before being employed by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch arms additionally have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal activity, records show. He did not return a reporter’s phone 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 judge, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and had been released from jail.