President Trump said Monday he is pardoning Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted of making several businessmen sworn law enforcement officers in exchange for cash bribes.
Former Culpeper County Sheriff Jenkins, 53, was found guilty on fraud and bribery charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison in March. But on Monday, Mr. Trump posted on 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,” Mr. Trump said in the post. “He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”
EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images 
CBS News has reached out to Jenkins’ attorneys for comment.
Jenkins was indicted in 2023 on 16 counts. In December, a jury found Jenkins guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud and seven counts of bribery. Jenkins appealed his conviction in April.
Federal prosecutors say Jenkins took $75,000 worth of bribes. He allegedly accepted cash and campaign contributions from eight people — including two undercover FBI agents — and in return, gave them badges and made them auxiliary deputy sheriffs, despite not having any training or vetting. He also allegedly pushed officials to restore one bribe-payer’s right to possess a gun as a convicted felon.
Jenkins took the stand in his own defense and said there was no connection between the payments he received and the badges he handed out, according to news reports. Testifying against Jenkins were the undercover FBI agents who were sworn in as deputies in 2022 and immediately thereafter gave Jenkins envelopes with $5,000 and $10,000 cash, respectively.
Trump said Jenkins tried to offer evidence in his defense, but U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou, a Biden appointee, “refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade.”
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.”
A longstanding Trump supporter, Jenkins is the latest ally of the president to receive a pardon.
On Mr. Trump’s first day in office, he granted pardons and commutations to more than 1,000 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Mr. Trump has also granted clemency to several other public officials. He pardoned Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, and Michelle Fiore, a Las Vegas politician and loyal Trump backer convicted of paying for plastic surgery and other personal expenses with money intended to build a statue for a slain police officer.
