Just days into his new role, the new Culpeper County sheriff is making changes. That includes suspending the auxiliary deputy program, which is at the center of a federal indictment for his predecessor.
Sheriff Tim Chilton has lived and worked in the community for more than two decades as a police officer.
“I didn't have to meet a lot of folks. I knew them when the campaign started,” he said.
But there's a lot he said he didn’t know about when it comes to what was going on inside the sheriff's office he now runs.
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“You describe inheriting not exactly the operation you hoped it would be," said Investigative Reporter Ted Oberg recently when the newly elected sheriff sat down with the News4 I-Team.
“No, not at all,” said Chilton.
He said he kept 95% of former Sheriff Scott Jenkins’ staff and deputies and pointed out they’re ready and doing a great job. Among those he didn’t rehire: Six members of the former sheriff’s family who worked for the department.
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As for the auxiliary deputy program that got the former sheriff in trouble, Chilton suspended it. He's not even certain who had an auxiliary deputy badge, he said.
“The weird thing is there's, like, three or four different lists of auxiliaries," Chilton said.
Asked if he knew how many auxiliary deputies had Culpeper badges, the sheriff said, "Other than what I saw on your show? Nope. I had no idea, and neither did half the people here."
Chilton said he’s had people from all around the country call him saying they had county badges and credentials. He doesn’t know if they had county-owned weapons.
That includes the three auxiliaries indicted last year for allegedly paying bribes to former Sheriff Jenkins to get badges.
Asked if there is any evidence that the sheriff's office had asked for the guns and property back from those under indictment before Chilton took over, he said, ”I don't think so. I don't think anybody did. We've got three or four folks that are, that are chasing down addresses, chasing down information. Hopefully we can find any more."
One of the indicted auxiliary deputies, Frederic Gumbinner, took a guilty plea in November. Another, James Metcalf, also pleaded guilty, according to court documents made public Wednesday. A third indicted auxiliary deputy pleaded not guilty.
As did Jenkins, who Chilton said just days ago surprised him with a visit to the office.
"There was a big amount of guns that he brought back," he said. "He had 55 guns is what he turned in the other night."
Chilton said they might have been used by the former sheriff for training. The guns were a mix of handguns and rifles, according to Chilton, some which can immediately be used by deputies who didn't have a rifle.
The I-Team asked Jenkins’ current criminal attorney about the guns but has not received an answer.
Chilton also showed the I-Team another gun in the department’s armory.
"It's a fully automatic .223 and it is probably a $7,000 weapon,” he said. “This is the one that was in Texas that you guys reported on."
The I-Team first saw that particular gun in Dallas police body camera video after a Culpeper auxiliary deputy got into a car accident there in Oct. 2022. At the time, the I-Team thought it was a semiautomatic rifle. Chilton confirmed the gun was a full auto machine gun that was eventually shipped back to Virginia from Texas. The I-Team still doesn’t have an answer as to why a Culpeper County-owned gun was in an old tennis bag in the back seat of a Texas pickup truck. Jenkin’s attorney did not respond to the I-Team’s questions.
Chilton said he’s found at least six fully automatic guns and plans to trade them in for weapons the department can actually use.
"We're going to trade them in and get something worthy of being used for law enforcement purposes,” he said. “This isn't necessarily one of those things."
He also asked Virginia State Police to audit every piece of evidence the department currently has in the evidence room.
When it comes to other surprises, Chilton explained he's spent his first several days untangling the budget and financial records, which he described as being “in disarray,” including credit card bills the new sheriff didn't know about and couldn't understand.
"We found some of those receipts where they were $120, $220 buffets on county taxpayer money,” Chilton said. “I don't think that's right."
He said that won’t continue.
The new sheriff said he’s eager to turn the page and do what he was elected to do.
"Are you ready to talk about fighting crime?" asked Oberg.
"Yeah,” Chilton said. "I still have a lot of gas in the tank for going out here and doing it myself, but right now I'm doing nothing but finding things to fix."
Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper.
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