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 fingers on certainly one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

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

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, records present. He didn't return telephone calls in search of remark. 

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

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead agency on the case, supplied few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the affiliation, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra charges are potential.

The idea that the judge — 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 up to now.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to threat actual trouble for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by way of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. 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 college.

For many years, a handful of outstanding families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the judge for more 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 lately elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s court meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer 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 each time he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

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

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas vegetation, water vegetation and salt water disposal systems. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut by way of the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economic system: oil and gasoline. 

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 prime officers in town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “Once I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to live on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here to like 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 properly area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into trouble earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones failed to observe the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets together with rushing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the commission he just authorised the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra schooling.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’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 in the again seat, records present. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “nearly ran me over,” data show. However body and dash camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with internal affairs reviews. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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, information show. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the company 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 felony activity, data present. He didn't return a reporter’s phone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one count of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter looking for remark.

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