1005 Alcyon Dr Bellmawr NJ 08031
+1 484-446-2566
support@bmcpros.com
During Trump’s Biden administration on Monday, President Trump awarded a former official a victim of a “weapon” victim of the Justice Department (DOJ) and leniently addressed former Sheriff Scott Jenkins.
Jenkins, who served as the sheriff of Culpeper County in Northern Virginia for a decade, lost reelection on the charges he faced and lost his campaign in 2023, eventually convicted of bribery charges. He was about to report to the prison for 10 years before being pardoned.
Here’s what Jenkins knows:
Bribery accusations of long-term career
Jenkins served as county sheriff for 12 years, was first elected in 2011 and won two reelections, both a Republican and an independent one.
But he lost his re-election in November 2023 less than five months after being indicted. He finished third in the game, losing to now Deputy Attorney Timothy Chilton, who served as deputy chief of the Culpeper Police Department.
Chilton said at the time he avoided discussing details of the allegations against Jenkins during the campaign, but wanted to focus on regaining the trust of the community and changing the culture of the office.
A big moment during Jenkins’ tenure was in 2019, when he announced plans to rule the county’s residents if the democratically controlled legislature passed “further unnecessary gun restrictions.”
“I plan to properly screen and represent thousands of law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional rights to own guns,” he said.
Chilton has ended the plan since taking office.
The case against Jenkins
Jenkins was indicted in June 2023 on the allegations that he accepted $70,000 in bribes in the form of cash or campaign donations, including two undercover FBI agents.
Prosecutors alleged that Jenkins appointed the men as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, who did not serve the sheriff’s office despite not being trained or reviewed, but gave them badges and certificates. They also accused him of forcing a man (the convicted felon) to restore his right to own a gun on local officials.
The man and two undercover FBI agents testified to Jenkins that they bribed officials at the time in exchange for being represented. Jenkins took his own defense and argued that the payment he received had no connection to the badge he provided.
The then-Washington Post reported that Jenkins’ defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had “no reliable evidence of bribery” and that Jenkins “proposed creativity” to address gun control laws passed by the state legislature. The money Jenkins received was a legal political donation, the lawyer said.
Three of the six men appointed as auxiliary deputy sheriff pleaded guilty prior to Jenkins’ trial and worked with authorities.
Jenkins was convicted on all charges he faced in December, including one conspiracy count, four counts of honest service mail and wire fraud, and seven counts of bribery regarding plans to receive public funds.
He was sentenced to ten years in prison in March.
Why Trump pardons Jenkins
Trump has been eager for pardoning the same individuals as himself during his second term, as victims of former President Biden’s “weaponized” DOJ.
Trump has often accused prosecutors in different jurisdictions of pursuing politically motivated prosecutions as he was charged four times in the 2024 presidential election.
He mentioned similar allegations in his post, announcing his decision to pardon Jenkins.
“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia and their family were dragged into hell by the corrupt and weaponized Biden Doj,” he said.
He claimed that the judge in Biden appointed unfairly refused to accept evidence that Jenkins made self-threatening claims.
Jenkins reportedly sought leniency from Trump last month, saying in a webinar that he had no money to appeal for the verdict and believed that Trump would step in after hearing evidence that he could not share in front of a jury.
Trump has also issued pardons for others whom others argued, the goal of politically motivated cases, especially for most people convicted of a crime committed on January 6, 2021. Those who have not received pardons will receive a commuter for sentences.
His Jenkins pardon was also consistent with others who had issued a high-profile release for him, who expressed similar conservative political views to him, such as conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza during his first term and Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas City Council member.