President Trump announced Monday that he will issue a former Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery a “full and unconditional pardon,” alleging that the lawman was a victim of “an overzealous Biden Department of Justice.”
Scott Jenkins, who had been the sheriff of Culpeper County, Va., was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in March after being convicted on corruption charges related to a scheme that saw him appoint local businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in exchange for over $75,000 in bribes.
One of the men Jenkins appointed to a law enforcement post was a convicted felon.
But Trump argued in a Truth Social post that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ.”
“This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail,” the president declared. “He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and ‘left for dead.’”
“This is why I, as President of the United States, see fit to end his unfair sentence, and grant Sheriff Jenkins a FULL and Unconditional Pardon.”
Trump noted that Jenkins, 53, was due to report to prison on Tuesday “but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”
Federal prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Jenkins accepted cash bribes and campaign contributions from three co-defendants – Rick Rahim, Fredric Gumbinner, and James Metcalf – and at least five others, including two undercover FBI agents, in exchange for appointing them to a “sworn law-enforcement position.”
Jenkins issued the bribe payors official Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and credentials – without training or vetting – as part of the scheme, and none rendered “legitimate services to the Sheriff’s Office or the citizens of Culpeper County” after being appointed auxiliary deputy sheriffs, according to the Justice Department.
“In addition, Jenkins pressured other local officials to approve a petition filed in Culpeper County Circuit Court by Rahim, a convicted felon, to restore his right to possess a firearm and which falsely stated that Rahim resided in Culpeper County,” federal prosecutors noted.
Rahim, Gumbinner, and Metcalf have all pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.
Trump argued Jenkins was not allowed to present exculpatory evidence at trial by the Biden-appointed judge overseeing the case.
“In fact, during his trial, when Sheriff Jenkins tried to offer exculpatory evidence to support himself, the Biden Judge, Robert Ballou, refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade,” the president wrote.
“As we have seen, in Federal, City, and State Courts, Radical Left or Liberal Judges allow into evidence what they feel like, not what is mandated under the Constitution and Rules of Evidence,” Trump added.
In March, acting US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Zachary Lee argued that Jenkins used his position of power “for unjust personal enrichment” and “violated his oath of office.”
“Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme,” Lee said after Jenkins was sentenced. “We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”
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