(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday granted an unconditional pardon to a Virginia sheriff who had been convicted of federal bribery charges and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Scott Jenkins, who had been the sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, was set to report to jail on Tuesday.
“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ,” Trump wrote in a statement on Truth Social. “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.”
“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,” he added. “This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.”
Jenkins faced a jury trial in late 2024 but wasn’t sentenced until March 2025 under the Trump administration. Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee, who represented the U.S. government, and therefore the Trump administration, in the case, is still serving as the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
Trump praised Jenkins as “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. He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”
Jenkins was convicted by a jury in December 2024 on charges including one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud and seven counts of bribery concerning federally funded programs.
Lee wrote in a March sentencing memo that Jenkins repeated violated the public’s trust “by exploiting his official powers for personal gain.”
“After he was caught, he sought to manipulate the judicial process and to evade responsibility for his crimes by lying to the Court and the jury,” Lee added.
“In sum, Jenkins’ lies and abuses of power in the instant case are not an aberration,” he said. “Since his early days in law enforcement, Jenkins has displayed a shocking disregard for his ethical and legal responsibilities.”
The Department of Justice had said in a press release in March that he had received over $75,000 in cash payments for “appointing numerous Northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his department.”
“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 at the time.
“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,” he added.
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