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

Lawmen got here to remote Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county decide, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on considered one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the highest elected official since 2007 within the least populated county in the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one depend of partaking in legal activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching family that settled in Loving County within the 1950s, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, information present. He didn't return telephone calls seeking remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of engaging in criminal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not 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 force.” 

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

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

The concept the choose — who's 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 in the past.

“You'll be able to’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a ache in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger real bother for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, population 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 youngsters who dwell there board the bus in the one city, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend school.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely coming out forward. Skeet Jones has served because 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 just lately elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s courtroom conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer holding the Jones household together. 

“He’s had free reign for the whole time since he’s been the judge,” 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 whatever he wants every time he needs.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no improper.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as judge in 2007, most of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water distributed from a community tank. 

However he presided over a period of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with large gasoline plants, water vegetation and salt water disposal systems. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that cut through the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: 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 officials on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “After 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?’” 

But 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 nicely discipline that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into bother earlier than, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct determined Jones didn't follow the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the commission he just authorized the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra education.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where information present 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 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 motive force “virtually ran me over,” records show. But 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 videos.

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 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 hired by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch arms additionally were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized felony activity, information present. He didn't return a reporter’s cellphone call.

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 searching for comment.

In addition to the decide, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and had been released from jail.