Scott Jenkins, a former sheriff in Culpeper County, Virginia, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of federal bribery.
President Donald Trump said Monday that he had forgiven Scott Jenkins, a former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a federal bribery conviction.
Several individuals, including three co-defendants and two undercover agents, have been promised official Culpeper County Sheriff’s office badges and identification despite not training, reviewing or carrying out law enforcement duties, according to court documents.
Jenkins maintained his innocence, and his three co-defendants pleaded guilty. His defense argued that the payment was a legal campaign contribution and was within his authority as a sheriff to designate an assistant deputy sheriff.
Trump came to Jenkins’ defense on Monday to denounce the judge who took the lead in politically motivated cases and excluded the evidence he was exempt from in favor of the sheriff during the trial.
The judge reportedly allows him to prove how he feels, not what is mandated under the constitution or rules of evidence, the president wrote.
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Jenkins led Culpeper County law enforcement more than a decade before the prosecutor, who ultimately sacrificed his re-election in 2023. First elected in 2011, he served one Republican, three terms in most counties of around 52,000 residents.
Over the years, Jenkins has emerged as a consistently conservative local leader on issues such as rights to amendments, immigration enforcement, and public health obligations. His profile grew as political tensions escalated between conservative rural communities in Virginia and progressive lawmakers on the left in Richmond.
In December 2019, Jenkins joined more than 30 other Virginia sheriffs, declared the county a “second amendment sanctuary” and vowed to represent residents if the state legislature passed a new gun control law that stated it would violate its second amendment right.
In 2020, Jenkins made headlines again by refusing to implement the Covid-19 lockdown order issued by the then GOV. Ralph Northam.
Since he returned to the White House, Trump has forgiven many people who said he was targeted by the Justice Department, which was politicized during the Biden administration.
Jenkins is “a wonderful man persecuted by the radical left,” the president wrote Monday. “He won’t be jailed tomorrow, but he’ll have a great, productive life instead.”
