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 judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms on certainly one of 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 facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in felony exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a strong 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, records show. He did not return telephone calls looking for remark. 

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

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead company on the case, supplied few specifics concerning the alleged crime. Commissioned by means of the Texas Division of Public Security, the association has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more prices are attainable.

The idea that the decide — who is paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply an excessive amount of 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 in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to threat real hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie hearth with a tailwind by way of 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 retailer and no bank. The few youngsters who live there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out ahead. 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 recently elected county officials 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 not holding the Jones household together. 

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

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

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas crops, water vegetation and salt water disposal programs. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by way of the caliche and bedrock to release the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and fuel. 

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

The salaries for most of the prime officers on the town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, 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 told the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to dwell in this godforsaken place?’” 

However she came 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 well field that feeds Mentone. 

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

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the commission he just accepted the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal of being fired — three times. 

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, information present. 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,” records present. However body and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs stories. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors decided he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, data show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the agency lower than two years later, data present. (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 also had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized criminal activity, records present. He did not return a reporter’s telephone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one depend of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter seeking remark.

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