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

Lawmen came to distant Loving County, Texas, on Friday to arrest the county judge, a former sheriff’s deputy and two ranch palms on certainly one of Texas’ oldest crimes — cattle theft. 

Judge Skeet Jones, 71, the top elected official since 2007 within the least populated county in the continental United States, is facing three felony counts of livestock theft and one rely of partaking in criminal exercise, accused of gathering up and selling stray cattle, authorities mentioned. 

Jones, the scion of a strong 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 show. He did not return telephone calls seeking comment. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one count of partaking in legal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, but his wife sent an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full drive.” 

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

Jeremy Fuchs, a spokesman for the association, said the yearlong investigation is ongoing and more fees are potential.

The concept that the choose — who is paid $133,294 yearly — 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 possibly can’t make this shit up,” she said. “It’s a pain within the ass to spherical up cattle and take them to market. And then to risk real trouble for it? It’s just asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie fire with a tailwind via this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 sq. miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no faculty, 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 outstanding 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 as the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county lawyer. His nephew is the constable. 

But some recently elected county officials 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 not holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete time since he’s been the decide,” 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 needs whenever he wants.  Even the feeling 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 still had to line as much as get potable water disbursed from a group tank. 

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large fuel crops, water plants and salt water disposal techniques. Many of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that lower by the caliche and bedrock to liberate the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and fuel. 

The tax base hovers around $7 billion to $9 billion. And the county’s price range has grown from about $2 million in 2008 to greater than $28 million. 

The salaries for most of the prime officers in town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or increased. 

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 quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones advised the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I said to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she got here 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 field that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle before, however nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't comply with the regulation by charging steep fees — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including speeding and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and advised the fee he just approved the plea offers offered to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of additional schooling.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place records present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equivalent of being fired — three times. 

In 2015, he was positioned on indefinite suspension for a 100-plus mph pursuit of a driver who had a toddler in the again seat, records present. Medlin was reinstated after an appeal. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the driving force “almost ran me over,” information present. But body and dash digital camera footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in response to inside affairs reports. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even if 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, records show. 

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

Medlin additionally worked on Jones’ ranch before 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 interesting in organized legal activity, records show. He didn't return a reporter’s telephone name.

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

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