President Donald Trump has pardoned a sheriff from Virginia — who happens to be a stalwart MAGA supporter — after his conviction of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes.
Trump announced the pardon in a Truth Social post on Monday.
He declared that former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins would receive a "full and unconditional" pardon in the Memorial Day social media missive.
Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after he was convicted of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and bribery last December, according to the Daily Beast.
The president used some familiar terminology to describe Jenkins' experience with the U.S. justice system. Trump claimed the bribed sheriff had been "dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden” Department of Justice.
“This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail,” Trump wrote. “He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and left for dead.”
The president said instead of sitting in a cell, Jenkins will instead have a "wonderful and productive life."
Prior to losing an election in 2023 for the sheriff’s job, Jenkins had been Culpeper County's top law enforcement officer for more than a decade.
That long career fell apart after the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia brought allegations against Jenkins accusing him of taking tens of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in exchange for appointing businessmen from Northern Virginia as auxiliary sheriffs. The businessmen reportedly weren't interested in enforcing the law, but rather skirting traffic tickets and carrying concealed guns without the need for a permit, according to prosecutors.
Officials said that none of the men who paid for the positions were trained for the roles, or vetted, and none ever rendered any kind of law enforcement service to the sheriff's department.
“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,” Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary Lee said in March after Jenkins' conviction.
Jenkins has connections to the MAGA world through the Claremont Institute, a far-right think tank where he was one of eight sheriffs selected as fellows. The institute's membership includes a number of former Trump officials.
In April, Jenkins insisted if he could talk to someone in the Trump administration, he could get help in his case.
"I truly believe if I could get an hour of time with someone in the administration, and lay out some facts with my attorney” it could spare him prison, Jenkins said during a webinar hosted by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. "I believe wholeheartedly in the president. I believe if he heard the information, I know he would help if he knew my story."
It appears he was right.
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