May 26 (UPI) — Former Culpeper County (Va.) Sheriff Scott Jenkins won’t have to go to prison for bribery after President Donald Trump pardoned him on Monday.
Trump accused a “corrupt and weaponized Biden” Department of Justice of engaging in an “overzealous” prosecution of Jenkins that resulted in his December conviction on bribery and other charges in the U.S. District Court of Western Virginia.
“In fact, during his trial, when Sheriff Jenkins tried to offer exculpatory evidence to support himself, the Biden [-nominated] Judge, Robert Ballou, refused to allow it, shut him down and then went on a tirade,” Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post.
“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 continued.
“This sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.”
He said Jenkins “was persecuted by radical left ‘monsters’ and ‘left for dead,'” so he granted him a full and unconditional pardon.
The federal court in December convicted Jenkins of accepting $70,000 in bribes and campaign contributions to appoint local businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs and in March sentenced him to 10 years in prison, The Hill reported.
He was convicted on seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving public funds, four counts of honest services mail and wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy.
Jenkins was the Culpeper County sheriff from 2012 until losing his bid for re-election in 2023.
Two of those from whom he was convicted for accepting bribes were undercover FBI agents.
Although the alleged bribers were from those who lacked training and weren’t vetted, Jenkins offered them badges and sheriff department credentials, federal prosecutors said.
After Jenkins in March was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison, prosecuting U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee said those who received the badges and credentials did not provide any services for the county or the sheriff’s 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 in a statement.
“We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct,” Lee added. “This case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”