Culpeper sheriff criticizes I-Team coverage of teenage son's role in school threat response

In the waning days of his reelection campaign, indicted Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins struck back at a News4 I-Team investigation into his son’s response to a potential threat at a high school.

In a video posted online Sunday, Jenkins defended his son and had some harsh words for the I-Team.

It stems from a Sept. 13, incident when a box of ammunition was found in a bathroom ceiling at Culpeper County High School. Thankfully, nothing else happened, but the law enforcement response was huge.

That day, some residents in Culpeper were confused why the sheriff’s 17-year-old son was taken out of class while every other student was under a stay-in-place order. The son, who News4 is not naming due to his age, donned a sheriff’s vest and participated in the law enforcement response. 

At the time, Sheriff Jenkins didn’t comment to the I-Team.  Over the weekend he spoke to the group Culpeper County 2A, which posted a clip on Facebook.

Jenkins defended the teen’s service and sheriff’s vest, saying, “He had an identifier on.  The fact that it was a vest, you (would have) thought it was a machine gun the way this idiot reporter from channel four made it sound. And then all the local media and others jump on the bandwagon.”

Jenkins’ son is a part-time employee of his dad’s sheriff’s office. Payroll records obtained by the I-Team list him as a records clerk.

At the time of the incident, he was a 17-year-old senior at the school, which is too young to be sworn law enforcement anywhere in Virginia.

“We're not New York City; we don't have 40,000 officers,” Jenkins said in the video. “So, common sense. You have runners and gofers to do lots of things, and on the day of the incident at the high school, that's all that young man did. He wasn't doing anything wrong.”

In the seven-minute video, the sheriff expressed concern his son would be part of news coverage, but then elaborated, saying he was part of the law enforcement response to a barricaded suspect incident a week earlier. The sheriff also said his son is now 18 years old and will graduate in December and become a deputy sheriff.

The Facebook post for Culpeper County 2A says the video published Sunday aims to “cut through the drama,” saying this is just the first of many videos. One other has been published since. In it, Jenkins explained his reasoning behind a proposal to deputize thousands of deputies nationwide to, in his mind, protect their gun rights.

The group said it “recently had a sit-down with Sherriff Jenkins, looked him in the eye and asked the questions we felt needed answered.” On its Facebook page, Culpeper County 2A describes itself as “a group of concerned Culpeper County citizens and their friends dedicated to protecting their inherent and inalienable rights to self-defense and to keep and bear arms as memorialized in and guaranteed by pertinent provisions of the Constitution of Virginia and Bill of Rights.”

The News4 I Team requested another interview with the sheriff after the video was released but has not heard from him.

Jenkins is currently facing federal bribery and conspiracy charges. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial next year.

Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones.