Trump pardons ex-Virginia sheriff convicted in bribery scheme

NEW YORK, May 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned a former Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery in what prosecutors called a "cash-for-badges scheme," preventing him from starting his 10-year prison sentence.

Former Culpepper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was convicted in December for accepting at least 75,000 U.S. dollars in bribes in exchange for appointing Northern Virginia business executives as auxiliary deputies.

Jenkins appealed for assistance directly to Trump during a webinar in April hosted by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, according to the NBC News affiliate in Washington, D.C. "I believe wholeheartedly in the president," Jenkins said.

Trump said on social media on Monday that Jenkins was the victim of an "overzealous Biden Justice Department" and a judge appointed by former President Joe Biden, U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou.

"Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ," Trump wrote. "He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left 'monsters,' and 'left for dead.'"