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 judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch arms 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 dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in legal activity, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities stated. 

Jones, the scion of a robust 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 present. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one depend of engaging in prison activity — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, however his spouse despatched an email that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, provided few specifics about the alleged crime. Commissioned by way of the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, mentioned the yearlong investigation is ongoing and extra expenses are attainable.

The concept the judge — 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 may’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a pain in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk actual bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Word of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie fire with a tailwind through 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 college, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few kids who stay there board the bus in the only city, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles every morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For decades, a handful of distinguished families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally largely popping out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the decide 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 recently elected county officers 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 family together. 

“He’s had free reign for all the time since he’s been the judge,” said Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a sense of energy and impunity that he can do no matter he desires whenever he wants.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no mistaken.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, many of the caliche roads were rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line up to get potable water allotted from a neighborhood 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 landscape is dotted with large gas crops, water crops and salt water disposal methods. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce by way of the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and gas. 

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 lots of the top officers in town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

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 running water. “When I first got here 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 on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she came to like Loving County’s huge, 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 hassle earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones failed to observe the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for reducing tickets together with speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The choose denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the commission he simply permitted the plea offers introduced to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional education.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Department, the place data present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — 3 times. 

In 2015, he was positioned 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 appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “virtually ran me over,” data present. However physique and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in line with inside affairs reports. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the movies.

He was later issued one other 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 agency lower than two years later, data present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

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

Two ranch hands also were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and fascinating in organized felony activity, data present. He didn't return a reporter’s phone name.

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

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