Trump Grants Full Pardon to Former Culpeper Sheriff Convicted of Corruption
CULPEPER, Va. – A seemingly infamous former sheriff, about to begin a 10-year jail sentence, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
According to a December 2024 media release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Scott Howard Jenkins was found guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes during his time as Culpeper County sheriff.
Jenkins, then 53, accepted cash bribes and bribes in the form of 2023 campaign contributions from several co-defendants and at least five others — including two undercover FBI agents.
In return, Jenkins appointed each of the individuals as auxiliary deputy sheriffs — sworn law enforcement positions. He also issued them official Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) badges and credentials.
Not only were these “auxiliary deputies” untrained and unvetted, but they also provided no legitimate services to the CCSO.
One of the appointees, Rick Rahim, was a convicted felon who filed a petition in Culpeper County Circuit Court to restore his right to possess a firearm. The petition falsely stated that Rahim resided in Culpeper County. Sheriff Jenkins then pressured local officials to approve the petition.
On December 18, Jenkins was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
On March 21, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia announced that Jenkins’ sentence would be 10 years in federal prison. Rahim was sentenced to 78 months in prison for tax crimes and wire fraud.
Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee released the following statement:
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. I am grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this investigation.
According to an April 2025 NBC News report, Jenkins announced he was seeking help from President Trump during a webinar hosted by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.
Jenkins claimed he had no money to appeal his conviction and issued the following statement:
I truly believe if I could get an hour of time with someone in the [Trump] administration and lay out some facts with my attorney... I really believe if they could hear the other side — which I couldn’t get in front of the jury — I believe wholeheartedly in the president,” he said. “I believe if he heard the information, I know he would help.
On Monday, May 26, 2025, Trump posted the following message on his social media platform, Truth Social:
Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ. 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.
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.” 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.
It was not immediately clear why Jenkins’ issuance of CCSO badges in exchange for campaign contributions was considered the fault of the former presidential administration. Jenkins, however, claims he was unfairly targeted because of his support for Trump.
According to the online media outlet The Guardian, Jenkins had been the subject of several other investigations long before the “bribes for badges” scheme.
Jenkins’s department was the subject of a 2017 investigation by WRC-TV, after former deputies told reporters the office suffered from “chaos, bullying and turnover problems” and accused Jenkins of creating a hostile environment. Jenkins vehemently denied the allegations.
According to a late 2017 report from NBC 4 Washington, members of Jenkins’s own staff accused him of using inmate extradition trips as all-expenses-paid vacations.
More than $3,500 was spent by Jenkins and another employee, Vanessa Blackstock, to pick up a man in Las Vegas wanted for grand larceny in August 2015. They each had a room for three nights at the MGM Grand Hotel. They also traveled to San Diego to pick up a woman on forgery charges in December of that year, spending $4,427. They stayed at the Omni Hotel and Resort.
The county was reimbursed for those trips by Virginia’s Supreme Court, which pays for approved extraditions. Reporters obtained records of extradition trips by the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office over a two-year span and noticed the use of first-class flights.
State records show Jenkins and Blackstock spent a combined $1,300 to fly first class one way to Vegas, and $1,200 one way to San Diego. They were the only county employees found flying first class. Two other Culpeper deputies who traveled on the same California trip to pick up a second fugitive both flew coach.
The Culpeper Star-Exponent followed up on WRC-TV’s findings. When asked about flying first class while traveling for work, Jenkins responded that the county was reimbursed by inmate-paid fees and asked, “Have you seen the size of coach seats?”
The Fredericksburg Free Lance–Star closely followed a lawsuit brought against Jenkins and other officials by a wrongfully convicted man who served 12 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Jenkins was accused of suppressing evidence during the investigation, which he denied. The lawsuit was later settled.
In September 2023, NBC News 4 Washington reported that after a box of ammunition was found at Culpeper County High School, students were ordered to stay in place. One student, however, did not.
A 17-year-old senior went to his truck, retrieved a sheriff’s office tactical vest, and joined the deputy response inside and outside of the school. The student was later identified as Jenkins’ son.
Employment records obtained by the media revealed that the teen was employed at his father’s department as a “clerk.” Virginia law states that any law enforcement officer, including sheriff’s deputies, must be 18-years-old and have a high school diploma or equivalent.
Jenkins defended his son’s actions and publicly chastised the media outlet for covering the story in the first place:
He had an identifier on. The fact that it was a vest, you (would have) thought it was a machine gun the way this idiot reporter from channel four made it sound. And then all the local media and others jump on the bandwagon.
In his 2023 bid for reelection, Jenkins lost to Culpeper Police Department Deputy Chief Timothy Chilton, who received more than 55% of votes. Candidate Joe Watson got a little more than 24%. Jenkins, despite his 12 years in office, received only 20%.
This week, President Trump's pardon of Jenkins made front-page news on both national and international outlets. While there is some support for Jenkins — and Trump’s decision — there is also a growing amount of criticism and backlash.
Pardons clear a person of legal responsibility for a crime, but they are not the same as exonerations, which formally declare a person’s innocence. Trump’s executive act of forgiveness merely canceled the prison sentence Jenkins was about to begin — just hours away from his pardon.