The sheriff in Frederick County is accused of taking part in a conspiracy to fraudulently acquire machine guns with a local gun business owner seeking to rent the weapons to private citizens.
Sheriff Charles “Chuck” A. Jenkins, 66, who was most recently reelected in 2022, was indicted by a federal grand jury and faces charges of conspiracy to interfere with government functions and federal regulations of machine guns, along with making false statements, including to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as the ATF.
A federal indictment filed Wednesday said that Jenkins, with his codefendant Robert Justin Krop, a gun business owner, falsely claimed the machine guns would be “dealer samples” for demonstration to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.
Instead, they were rented to Krop’s customers and led to more than $100,000 in profits in 2018 and 2019.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Todd Wivell, delivered a statement Wednesday on Jenkins’ behalf, saying the fifth-term sheriff would continue to serve in that post. Wivell said Jenkins has been in “constant communication” with the U.S. Department of Justice and ATF and has been “100% cooperative.” He’s known of the investigation for at least a year, Wivell said.
“At the advice of my attorney, and out of respect for the justice process, I am not providing comment at this time,” said Jenkins’ statement, as read by Wivell. “I will continue to serve as your sheriff as this process plays out and fully expect my deputies, correctional officers and staff to remain the true professionals that they are.”
Wivell declined to identify Jenkins’ attorney but said the representation was privately funded. He said he believes Jenkins will make an appearance in court next week.
The indictment alleges Krop offered Jenkins political support in exchange for submitting the fraudulent letters requesting the machine guns, which falsely stated they would be used for demonstrations. It cites e-mail exchanges between Jenkins and an official with Krop’s business.
One of the weapons, a “belt-fed machine gun,” was described in a letter on Frederick County Sheriff’s Office letterhead requesting a demonstration as one “particularly suitable for use as a law enforcement weapon, due to cost, availability and its use in day to day patrol as well as special operations,” the indictment said.
But, in fact, it was not requested for a demonstration, the indictment said, and it was not suitable for law enforcement: “The FB M249 SAW was a belt-fed machine gun suitable only for use in combat,” it said.
Krop is identified as the owner and operator of The Machine Gun Nest in Frederick County. He faces an additional charge of unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Federal law largely bars the possession, transfer or import of machine guns, the indictment said. The ATF must approve any domestic purchases or transfers of machine guns. One exemption to that rule allows licensed dealers to have, transfer or import machine guns if they’re being used as samples for potential law enforcement or military purchasers, the indictment said.
To do so, a “law letter” is required from the law enforcement agency making the request, according to the indictment. That letter would lay out the machine gun model the agency is interested in seeing.
The indictment alleges “false” law letters were created and sent from Jenkins to Krop, then submitted to the ATF. Though the letters said the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was requesting demonstrations, the indictment said, it was actually Krop who’d asked Jenkins to submit the letters so he could get them and rent them to his customers.
The dates of the law letter signatures cited in the indictment ranged from Aug. 25, 2015 to March 29, 2022.
Jenkins, a Republican who has been sheriff since 2006, did not immediately respond to a request for comment left at his office. Krop also did not immediately return a request for comment left with The Machine Gun Nest. No attorneys were listed for the men in online court records, as of Wednesday evening.
Wivell, the sheriff’s office spokesman, said the indictment came as a surprise, despite Jenkins’ knowledge of the investigation. Asked whether anyone would serve as acting sheriff or take over Jenkins’ duties, Wivell said no.
“As professional as [Jenkins] is, he will still keep an open-door policy,” Wivell said. “He will still talk. He has been advised by his counsel not to talk about this situation at all, but if someone in Frederick County has an incident or a situation that they need to talk to him, that involves law enforcement, he will 100% do that.”
___
© 2023 Baltimore Sun
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
