Felon Fraudster And Bribe Taker Pardons Fellow Felon Fraudster And Bribe Taker

 

Game recognizes game:

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is pardoning a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges for deputizing several businessmen in exchange for cash payments.

Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, 53, was found guilty on fraud and bribery charges and sentenced in March.

But on Monday, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social 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. He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left “monsters,” and “left for dead,” Trump said in the post. “He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”

Messages seeking comment were left with Jenkins’ lawyers. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia was closed for the Memorial Day holiday.

Jenkins is the latest pardon Trump has given to loyal supporters. In April, he pardoned Nevada Republican Michele Fiore, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.

In January, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the internet’s role in illegal markets.

He also pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.  [snip]

Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said at the time that Jenkins violated his oath of office “and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”  (our emphasis)

Never let it be said that the convicted felon fraudster and head of the Trump Crime Family wasn't a felon's best friend!  

As far as a "weaponized" prosecution, Jenkins was found guilty by a jury of his peers (as was the Malignant Fascist).  If the MF is looking for "weaponized" prosecutions by the Justice Department, he need look no further than this.  Beyond the gaslighting, of course, it's all meant to let his cult members know that they can be as lawless as he is and they won't suffer any legal damage.  So far, so bad.

BONUS:  He pardoned a fellow tax cheat following a bribe, er, contribution.

(Photo:  felonious former sheriff Jenkins in MAGAt regalia / via Threads)

 

Republican Crime Blotter: The Constitushonal Sheriff

 

 

Crackpot Republican sheriff gets busted in Virginia:

A Virginia sheriff who prosecutors say offered police badges and gun permits in exchange for payments or political contributions has been indicted on bribery charges.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Culpeper County Sheriff Scott H. Jenkins (R) accepted at least $72,500 in cash and campaign contributions beginning in 2019 from donors he agreed to appoint as “auxiliary deputy sheriffs,” according to a 38-page indictment unsealed Thursday. In prosecutors’ telling, Jenkins schemed to enrich himself while at the same time using his office to expand access to firearms in the suburban Virginia county.

Jenkins, 51, was first elected in 2011 and is running for a fourth term in November. Staff at the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to questions about the indictment Thursday. Jenkins and three co-defendants were scheduled to appear in federal court in Charlottesville on Thursday afternoon. All four were in custody, court records show.

“Scott Jenkins not only violated federal law but also violated the faith and trust placed in him by the citizens of Culpeper County by accepting cash bribes in exchange for auxiliary deputy badges and other benefits,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh of the Western District of Virginia, whose office is prosecuting the case with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. “Our elected officials are expected to uphold the rule of law, not abuse their power for their own personal, financial gain.”

Following a mass killing in Virginia Beach in May 2019, Culpeper County officials voted to become a “Second Amendment Constitutional County” and established the auxiliary deputies, who are unpaid volunteers with some police powers and firearms-carrying privileges that go beyond what those who don’t work in law enforcement can get.  [snip]

Prosecutors said Jenkins charged between $5,000 to $21,000 to would-be auxiliaries, including three Virginia men who were indicted alongside him: Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls; Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax; and James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas. They were charged with conspiracy, fraud and bribery and could face up to decades in prison. No lawyer was immediately listed for the men in court records.

Jenkins let each of them know the badge and identification card issued by the sheriff’s office authorized them to carry a concealed firearm in any state without obtaining another permit, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Jenkins also accepted bribes from others who were not named in the indictment, including two undercover FBI agents. One of the undercover agents gave Jenkins an envelope with $5,000 immediately after being sworn in as an auxiliary deputy and receiving a badge, the indictment says. The second undercover agent posed as a convict. Federal law generally bars people convicted of felonies or domestic violence from possessing firearms. The agent gave Jenkins an envelope with $10,000 after being sworn in as an auxiliary deputy, according to the indictment. [snip]

“I appreciate what support you've given me, but you didn't do it for nothing,” Jenkins said about Rahim in a 2022 conversation quoted in the indictment. “You got a … a clean slate to carry a, not only carry a gun, we followed it up with swearing you in. Name another sheriff in the whole state of Virginia that would do that.”...

Well, hopefully, you're unique in Virginia at least, Scotty boy.

Meanwhile, wtf Culpeper voters?  The guy's not only a crook but one of those "constitutional sheriffs" who are basically Posse Comitatus flakes with a badge (which he'd be happy to sell to you, of course), named by the Anti-Defamation League as an anti- government extremist group.  Just the kind of person you want keeping the peace.

(Photo:  Ok, we'll go there -- oink -- / via Twitter/@mgreen7762 and @LynneVogt09)