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The bribery trial of former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was set to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, but was delayed again when the defendant didn’t show due to panic attacks.
NBC Washington reported the trial, which was originally delayed two days due to panic attacks landing Jenkins in the ER, has been postponed until Dec. 11.
Jenkins is accused of accepting at least $72,500 in cash bribes and campaign contributions from codefendants 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, according to court records.
Charges against Jenkins include conspiracy, four counts of honest-services wire and mail fraud and seven counts of federal programs bribery. Jenkins is also accused of providing the codefendants with sheriff’s office ID cards and badges, the indictment states.
While Jenkins has maintained his innocence, Rahim, Gumbinner and Metcalf all pleaded guilty and will be sentenced Jan. 28 in Charlottesville.
Jenkins was indicted in June 2023 and ultimately lost his reelection bid for sheriff post in November 2023. He had served as sheriff since 2012.
According to the indictment, Jenkins allowed Rahim — a Great Falls resident — to claim he was living in Culpeper County, illegally meeting the requirements needed to restore Rahim’s firearms rights. In May 2021, Rahim was sworn in as an auxiliary deputy sheriff, and the sheriff’s office issued him a firearm and magazines.
The indictment also details interactions with undercover FBI agents. In one meeting, an agent provided Jenkins $5,000 cash immediately after being sworn in as an auxiliary deputy sheriff in November 2022.
The second agent handed Jenkins an envelope containing $10,000 cash upon receiving his own auxiliary deputy badge around December 2022, after an unnamed Northern Virginia businessperson had recommended him to Jenkins, according to court records.
Upon recommendation, the businessperson also said the second undercover agent had been convicted of a crime — to which Jenkins allegedly responded: “I’ll just personally walk it through, take a look and we’ll talk,” court records state.
Neither agent’s donation was included in the Jan. 9, 2023, campaign finance filing for the Scott Jenkins for Sheriff campaign, according to the indictment.
Around Jan. 30, 2023, Jenkins sent four firearms to both undercover agents and two other unnamed individuals in an effort to conceal the cash bribes he had received as false gun purchases, the indictment states. Jenkins also instructed another associate, the same businessperson who recommended the second undercover agent as an auxiliary deputy candidate, to create false documentation reflecting those fraudulent firearm transactions.
The alleged crimes took place between early 2019 and early 2023.
U.S. District Judge Robert S. Ballou of the Roanoke Division is set to preside over the trial, which is scheduled for nine days.
