Jurors took a little more than two hours Wednesday to decide a former Virginia sheriff was guilty on all counts of taking more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for badges.
A day after the verdict on former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, the News4 I-Team spoke with a federal prosecutor and FBI agent who investigated him for years.
The case surprised even some of the most experienced prosecutors.
“This was not a case that was close to the line or close to the edge. This really struck in the heartland of corruption,” Chris Kavanaugh, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, told the I-Team.
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He said his team suspected early on that Jenkins was taking bribes for badges. What they heard on undercover recordings was eye-opening.
“That was some of the most devastating recordings that I have ever seen in my 18-year career with the Justice Department,” Kavanaugh said. “It was so explicit.”
“That did not work out for him,” said Stanley Meador, the FBI special agent in charge of the Richmond field division.
“This particular case is a public corruption case because you had a corrupt individual taking advantage of the situation to line his own pockets,” Meador said.
Jenkins always insisted he did nothing wrong. He had explanations for the payments, denied some rules or laws applied to him, and at one point on the stand claimed he had just 10 weeks of law enforcement training decades ago.
“Even though he may have humble beginnings, he knew right from wrong and was the leader of an entire law enforcement department,” Kavanaugh said.
Jenkins did not speak with the I-Team after the verdict and his attorneys didn’t say much either.
“We’re disappointed in the verdict and we intend to keep fighting,” defense attorney Phil Andonian said outside the courthouse.
Months before the trial, Jenkins’ lawyers said in an online fundraiser that Jenkins was a victim of the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, suggesting his outspoken support of gun rights made him a target.
Did anyone ever tell you to bring this case because he was a strong Second Amendment supporter?” the I-Team asked Meador, the FBI agent.
“Absolutely not,” he replied.
It’s possible Jenkins could be angling for a pardon from President-elect Donald Trump.
Kavanaugh, the prosecutor, pushed back against the notion.
“That is not appropriate for a pardon, given how egregious the conduct was here and that there’s absolutely no evidence this was a political prosecution,” he said.
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Kavanaugh, who leaves office this week, says his team will recommend a lengthy prison sentence for the former sheriff when he’s sentenced in March. He said he hopes the case will remind public servants of the oath they take.
