President Donald Trump pardoned former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was convicted of one court of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery, and sentenced in March to 10 years in prison.
A jury found Jenkins guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for making several civilians auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law-enforcement position, without them being trained. Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said at the sentencing: “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.”
This is the guy Trump just pardoned.
Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was convicted in 2024 of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and bribery for running a ‘cash-for-badges’ scheme. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
He also accepted over $75,000 in… pic.twitter.com/wtKetzov7i
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) May 26, 2025
[Note: When Trump announced the pardon, he said Jenkins was the “victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice.”]
Democratic Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer, responded to Trump’s pardon on X by writing: “Scott Jenkins was in a position of public trust and he broke the law. He abused his power, violated his oath, committed multiple federal crimes, and was to be held accountable for his crimes.”
Scott Jenkins was in a position of public trust and he broke the law. He abused his power, violated his oath, committed multiple federal crimes, and was to be held accountable for his crimes.
He was convicted by a jury of his peers of one count of conspiracy, four counts of… https://t.co/2lf8XF4wu6
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerForVA) May 26, 2025
She added: “The president just pardoned him in an affront to the oath he swore, the community he betrayed, the laws he broke, and the law enforcement officers who investigated this case and hold themselves to the highest ethical standard every day.”
Note: Spanberger is running in the 2025 gubernatorial election in Virginia against Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who was endorsed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin who is not running for re-election.