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

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

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

Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family that settled in Loving County in the Nineteen Fifties, was booked into Winkler County Jail on Friday and released on $20,000 bond, information show. He did not return telephone calls in search of remark. 

Authorities additionally arrested former Loving County deputy Leroy Medlin Jr., 35, on one rely of engaging in legal exercise — a second-degree felony that carries a most sentence of 20 years. Medlin did not return telephone calls, however his spouse despatched an electronic mail that questioned the motives behind the arrests. “We're being focused,” she wrote, “at full pressure.” 

Officials with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the lead company on the case, provided few specifics in regards to the alleged crime. Commissioned through the Texas Department of Public Safety, the association has “particular rangers” —  licensed peace officers — who examine livestock theft and other agriculture crimes. 

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

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

“You can’t make this shit up,” she mentioned. “It’s a pain in the ass to round up cattle and take them to market. After which to risk actual bother for it? It’s simply asinine to me.”

Phrase of the arrests unfold sooner than a prairie hearth with a tailwind through this West Texas county, inhabitants 57 as of the final U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Unfold 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 live there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (inhabitants 22), and journey about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For many years, a handful of prominent households in Loving County have feuded bitterly for management of the local authorities, with the Joneses lastly largely popping out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the decide for greater than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable. 

But some not too long ago elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colourful commissioner’s court conferences and a much-anticipated November election. 

And blood is no longer holding the Jones family collectively. 

“He’s had free reign for your complete time since he’s been the choose,” stated Skeet Jones’ nephew, Constable Brandon Jones, who was elected in 2016. “That’s given him a way of power and impunity that he can do no matter he desires each time he wants.  Even the sensation of self-righteousness. That he can do no incorrect.” 

When Skeet Jones was sworn in as decide in 2007, a lot of the caliche roads had been rutted like washboards and residents nonetheless needed to line as much as get potable water disbursed from a community tank. 

However he presided over a interval of unprecedented progress, as fracking boomed in the Permian Basin, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The parched landscape is dotted with huge gasoline crops, water crops and salt water disposal techniques. Most of the surviving working ranches have “frac pads” for horizontally drilled wells that reduce via the caliche and bedrock to unlock the lifeblood for Loving County’s financial system: oil and fuel. 

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

The salaries for lots of the top officials on the town — the judge, auditor, treasurer, clerk, justice of the peace, county legal professional, constable and sheriff — are $100,000 or higher. 

Jones’ father, Elgin “Punk” Jones, and mom, Mary Belle Jones, started the P&M Jones Ranch in 1953, settling into a wood-frame home with no operating water. “After I first came to Mentone in 1953, it was quite a shock,” Mary Belle Jones instructed the Texas Month-to-month in 1997. “I stated to my husband, ‘Punk, how long are we going to reside on this godforsaken place?’” 

But she came to love 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 effectively subject that feeds Mentone. 

Skeet Jones has gotten into hassle earlier than, but nothing like this. In 2016, the state Fee on Judicial Conduct decided Jones didn't observe the regulation by charging steep charges — about $600 to $750 — for decreasing tickets including dashing and marijuana possession all the way down to parking tickets.

The judge denied any involvement in negotiations over tickets and told the commission he simply authorised the plea offers presented to him. He was issued a public warning and ordered to take 10 hours of further education.

Medlin beforehand labored as a detective for the San Antonio Police Division, where records present he was issued indefinite suspensions — the department’s equal 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 within the again seat, records show. Medlin was reinstated after an enchantment. 

Then in 2018, Medlin engaged in one other high-speed pursuit after telling dispatchers the motive force “virtually ran me over,” records show. However physique and dash digicam footage contradicted Medlin’s account, in keeping with inner affairs experiences. 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 determined he issued tickets for violations he didn’t witness, records present. 

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

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

Two ranch palms additionally had been arrested on Friday. Cody Williams, 31, was charged with three counts of livestock theft and interesting in organized legal exercise, data show. 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 seeking comment.

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