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 choose, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch fingers on one among Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Decide Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 within the least populated county in the continental United States, is dealing with three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of partaking in felony activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a powerful 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 did not return cellphone calls seeking comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of partaking in felony exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin didn't return telephone calls, however his spouse sent an e-mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We are being targeted,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

Officers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Affiliation, the lead agency on the case, provided few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned by the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the decide — who's 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 in the past.

“You can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. After which to danger actual hassle for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

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

For decades, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the native authorities, with the Joneses finally largely coming 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 not too long ago elected county officers have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s courtroom meetings and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is now not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for the entire 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 no matter he wants at any time when he needs.  Even the feeling of self-righteousness. That he can do no improper.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, most of the caliche roads had been rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless had to line as much as get potable water dispensed from a neighborhood 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 landscape is dotted with massive gasoline plants, water crops and salt water disposal techniques. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize through the caliche and bedrock to release the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and gasoline. 

The tax base hovers round $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 top officials on the town — the choose, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

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 working water. “After I first came 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 live 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 properly 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 failed to comply with the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including speeding and marijuana possession down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and instructed the commission he simply accepted the plea deals presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional training.

Medlin beforehand worked as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place 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 appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driver “virtually ran me over,” data show. However body and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in line with inner affairs stories. 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, data present. 

Medlin joined the Loving County Sheriff’s Workplace in January 2019 and “separated” from the company less than two years later, data present. (Sheriff Chris Busse declined to say why.) 

Medlin additionally worked on Jones’ ranch before being employed by Loving County as a janitor and groundskeeper. 

Two ranch arms also were arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized legal activity, records present. He did not return a reporter’s cellphone 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.

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