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 choose, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms on one in every of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the top 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 count of participating in criminal activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County in the Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, records present. He didn't return telephone calls looking for comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of partaking in prison exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, but his spouse despatched an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full force.” 

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

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

The idea that the choose — who's 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 prior to now.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a pain within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger real trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests spread quicker than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind through 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 store and no financial institution. 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 school.

For many years, a handful of distinguished families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the native government, with the Joneses finally largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the decide 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. 

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

And blood is now not holding the Jones family together. 

“He’s had free reign for the complete time since he’s been the choose,” said 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 desires whenever he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no fallacious.” 

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

But he presided over a interval of unprecedented growth, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with huge fuel vegetation, water crops and salt water disposal programs. Most 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 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 many of the prime officials in town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county attorney, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or larger. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mother, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame house with no operating water. “When I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how lengthy are we going to dwell in 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 well area that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct determined Jones did not observe the law by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the fee he simply accepted the plea offers offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, where information present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent of being fired — 3 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, data present. Medlin was reinstated after an attraction. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in another high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “nearly ran me over,” data show. But physique and sprint digital 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 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 less than two years later, data show. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch arms additionally had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized prison activity, data show. 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 searching for comment.

In addition to the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and were launched from jail.