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

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

Choose 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 depend of engaging in criminal activity, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle, authorities stated. 

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 released on $20,000 bond, information present. He did not return cellphone calls in search of comment. 

Authorities also arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of partaking in criminal activity — a second-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return phone calls, but his spouse despatched 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 company on the case, provided few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned via the Texas Division of Public Security, the affiliation has “special rangers” —  certified peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

The concept that the choose — who's paid $133,294 annually — would get picked up for cattle rustling was simply too much for Susan Hays, a Texas election lawyer who’s wrangled with the Joneses prior to now.

“You possibly can’t make this shit up,” she stated. “It’s a ache in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. And then to danger real trouble for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests spread sooner than a prairie fire with a tailwind by means of this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few youngsters who reside there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend college.

For many years, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely popping out forward. Skeet Jones has served because the choose for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. 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 colorful commissioner’s court docket conferences 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 decide,” stated Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a sense of power and impunity that he can do no matter he needs every time he desires.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no mistaken.” 

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

But he presided over a period of unprecedented development, as fracking boomed within the Permian Basin, feeding cash into the county’s coffers. The parched panorama is dotted with large gas plants, water plants and salt water disposal systems. Lots of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that minimize via the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s economy: oil and fuel. 

The tax base hovers round $7 billion to $9 billion. And the county’s finances has grown from about $2 million in 2008 to more than $28 million. 

The salaries for lots of the prime officials on the town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county lawyer, 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 right into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “When I first got here to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I mentioned to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to live in this godforsaken place?’” 

However she got here to like Loving County’s vast, 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 subject 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 didn't comply with the law by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for lowering tickets including rushing and marijuana possession right down to parking tickets.

The decide denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and informed the fee he just permitted the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of extra training.

Medlin previously labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, the place information show he was issued indefinite suspensions — the division’s equivalent of being fired — thrice. 

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, 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. But physique and sprint digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inner affairs reviews. He appealed again, telling supervisors he felt threatened, even when 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, data show. 

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

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

Two ranch arms also have been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and engaging in organized prison activity, information present. He did not return a reporter’s telephone call.

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

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