The highest 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 in all 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 facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one count of partaking in legal activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities said. 

Jones, the scion of a robust ranching household that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and launched on $20,000 bond, records present. He didn't return phone calls searching for remark. 

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

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead agency on the case, provided few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned by the Texas Division of Public Safety, the affiliation has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who investigate livestock theft and different agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the decide — who is 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 up to now.

“You may’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache within 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.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold faster than a prairie fireplace with a tailwind by way of this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no college, no church, no grocery retailer and no bank. The few children who reside there board the bus in the one town, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend faculty.

For many years, a handful of distinguished households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local authorities, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. 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. 

However some lately elected county officials 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 no longer holding the Jones household together. 

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

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide 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 neighborhood tank. 

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with massive gas plants, water crops and salt water disposal methods. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize by way of the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and gas. 

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 prime officers on the 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 mom, Mary Belle Jones, began the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling right into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “Once I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was fairly 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 on this godforsaken place?’” 

However she came 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 trouble before, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't observe the law by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including speeding and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

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

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place records show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equal 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 again 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 “nearly ran me over,” records present. However physique and sprint camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, based on internal affairs studies. He appealed once more, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when it wasn’t evident from the videos.

He was later issued one other indefinite suspension after supervisors determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, information present. 

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

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

Two ranch hands also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison activity, records present. He didn't return a reporter’s telephone name.

Jonathon Alvarado, 23, faces one rely of theft of livestock, which carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. He hung up on a reporter seeking remark.

Along with the choose, Medlin, Williams and Alvarado posted bond and have been released from jail.