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 decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch fingers on one of 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 going through three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of partaking in prison exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong ranching household that settled in Loving County in 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 comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of partaking in criminal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, however his spouse sent an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being focused,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

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

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

The idea that the choose — who is paid $133,294 yearly — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses in the past.

“You may’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a ache in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk actual bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few kids who live there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of outstanding families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native authorities, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for the complete time since he’s been the decide,” mentioned 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 whatever he desires at any time when he desires.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no fallacious.” 

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

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut through the caliche and bedrock to free up the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and gas. 

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 officials in town — the decide, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or greater. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “When I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Monthly in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside in this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to like 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 field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother before, 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 including dashing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the commission he simply permitted the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra schooling.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where data show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent 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 in the back seat, information present. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “virtually ran me over,” information present. But body and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on inside affairs reports. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued another indefinite suspension after supervisors decided 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, information present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin also worked on Jones’ ranch earlier than being employed by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch palms also were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized prison activity, information show. He didn't return a reporter’s telephone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one depend 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 choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and have been launched from jail.