Badge of an Assistant District Attorney in Genesee County, NY.

Today, an indictment was unsealed in the Western District of Virginia charging Culpeper County Sheriff, Scott Howard Jenkins, and three other Virginia men with a conspiracy to exchange bribes for law enforcement badges and credentials. According to the Department of Justice, from at least April 2019, Jenkins accepted cash bribes and bribes in the form of campaign contributions totaling at least $72,500 from Rick Tariq Rahim, Fredric Gumbinner, James Metcalf, and at least five others, including two FBI undercover agents. In return, Jenkins appointed each of the bribe payors as auxiliary deputy sheriffs and issued them Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and identification cards. Jenkins told the bribe payors that the law-enforcement credentials authorized them to carry concealed firearms in all 50 states without obtaining a permit. Jenkins also assisted Rahim in gaining approval for a petition to restore his firearms rights filed in Culpeper County Circuit Court that falsely stated that Rahim resided in Culpeper County.

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.

If found guilty, each defendant could face imprisonment for up to five years on the conspiracy count, up to 20 years on each count of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and up to 10 years on each count of federal programs bribery. The defendants are scheduled to appear in court today in the Western District of Virginia.

The announcement was made by Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Christopher Kavanaugh, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia; and Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Richmond Field Office.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Richmond Field Office, Charlottesville Resident Agency.

Celia Choy, Trial Attorney of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, and Heather Carlton and Melanie Smith, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Western District of Virginia, are prosecuting the case.