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Jenkins is accused of accepting cash bribes and campaign contributions totaling more than $72,500 in exchange for police credentials that would allow for buyers to carry concealed guns without permits nationwide, federal prosecutors announced.
The 51-year-old sheriff acted alongside three other Virginia men since April 2019 in the conspiracy to exchange bribes for law enforcement badges and credentials, federal programs bribery, and honest services fraud, the indictment reads.
Jenkins accepted the brines from Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls, Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax, James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas, and at least five others, including two FBI undercover agents.
" In return, Jenkins appointed each of the bribe payors as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law-enforcement position, and issued them Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and identification cards," the federal release says.
"Jenkins told or caused others to tell the bribe payors that those law-enforcement credentials authorized them to carry concealed firearms in all fifty states without obtaining a permit."
The sheriff also helped Rahim gain approval for a petition to restore his firearms rights filed in Culpeper County Circuit Court that falsely stated that Rahim lived in Culpeper County, federal officials said.
- Jenkins is charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and eight counts of federal programs bribery.
- Rahim is charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and three counts of federal programs bribery.
- Gumbinner is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of honest-services wire fraud, and two counts of federal programs bribery.
- Metcalf is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of honest-services wire fraud, and two counts of federal programs bribery.
The defendants are scheduled to make their initial court appearances today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
The FBI’s Richmond Field Office, Charlottesville Resident Agency is investigating the case. Trial Attorney Celia Choy of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather Carlton and Melanie Smith of the Western District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.
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