President Donald Trump has pardoned former sheriff of Virginia Scott Jenkins, convicted of fraud and bribe

US President Donald Trump has issued a pardon of a former sheriff of Virginia, who was convicted of charges of fraud and bribe.

The jury found the former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins guilty of receiving over $ 75,000 (£ 55,000) in bribes last December, in exchange for turning several businessmen into law enforcement officers without being trained.

Jenkins, a longtime supporter of Trump, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March. He was ready to report in prison on Tuesday, but because of Trump’s pardon, he would not spend a day behind bars.

“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia and their family were dragged through hell,” Trump wrote in a publication on his social network of truth.

Trump said Jenkins was “the victim of Biden’s Excessive Ministry of Justice.” The judge, who chaired the case of Jenkins, Robert Balu, was appointed by former President Joe Biden, but it was a lawsuit.

Trump called Jenkins a “wonderful man” who was chased by “radical left -wing monsters” and “left for the dead.”

Jenkins was found guilty of a conspiracy census, four allegations of fraud in honest services and seven bribe for programs receiving federal funds.

Prosecutors said he was accepting bribes of eight people, including two FBI undercover agents. They were in the form of cash and campaigns. Jenkins’ position was chosen.

The men who bribe Jenkins paid for auxiliary deputy Sharif positions so that they could avoid traffic tickets and carry a hidden firearm without permission, prosecutors said.

Although auxiliary deputy sheriffs are volunteer positions, they may have powers of law enforcement equivalent to those of paid employees.

Trump said Jenkins had tried to offer evidence in his defense, but Judge Balu “refused to allow it, closed it and then went to the tirade.”

The acting US lawyer for Virginia said during the Jenkins sentence that the former sheriff had violated his oath. He said the case proved that the employees who used their positions for “unfair personal enrichment” would be held accountable.

But Jenkins appeals to Trump for help after his conviction.

“I believe that if he hears the information, I know it will help if he knows my story,” he reports in April at Webinar, organized by the constitutional sheriffs and the Association of Mira Officers.

Jenkins was elected Sheriff at Culpeper County in 2011 and took office in January 2012. He was re -elected in 2015 and 2019.

The former police officer is the latest in a long line of Trump supporters who will receive a pardon.

In January, the president issued almost 1,600 apologies or commutations of people accused in 2021. Capitol’s riots in 2021.

The US Constitution says the President has “the power to grant detects and pardons for crimes against the United States, except in the case of impeachment.”

Pardon is a legal forgiveness, terminates any further punishment and restores rights, such as being able to vote or run for public office.