Drakar Rawlings sentenced to nearly 2 decades; Culpeper's corrupt ex-sheriff scores a pardon
Rawlings's punishment stems in part from gun-in-backpack incident at Orange Elementary; Trump's pardon spares Scott Jenkins 10 years in federal prison
Drakar Lee Rawlings is headed to prison for a lengthy stay. You may recall that Rawlings was arrested shortly after the discovery of a loaded gun in a child’s backpack at Orange Elementary School in September.
Last week, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Jason Smith, announced that Rawlings, 31, made a plea deal in Orange County Circuit Court on March 14:
He pled guilty to one count of violent felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to five years in the state penitentiary. He also pled guilty to child endangerment, receiving an additional five-year sentence with three years suspended. For the misdemeanor offense of allowing access to firearms by a child under 14, he received a 12-month jail sentence. The second firearm possession charge was not prosecuted as part of the agreement. In total, Rawlings was sentenced to seven years in the state penitentiary and 12 months in jail for the charges stemming from the Orange County investigation. —Orange County Sheriff’s Office announcement, May 23, 2025
After being sentenced in Orange, Rawlings was dispatched to Rockingham County, where he faced further charges. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, “In total, Drakar Lee Rawlings has been sentenced to 17 years in the state penitentiary, 12 months in jail and two years of supervised probation upon release.”
Trump pardons former Culpeper County sheriff convicted of bribery
President Donald Trump has pardoned former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins. In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for illegally deputizing people and providing them with badges in exchange for bribes, but now he’s a free man.
In December, federal prosecutors made the case that the ex-sheriff collected $75,000 from his bribery scheme and convinced a jury of his guilt. In March, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia, released a statement on Jenkins’s sentencing that recounts the case. The statement reads, in part:
In December 2024, a jury convicted Scott Howard Jenkins, 53, of Culpeper, Virginia, of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
“Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said today. “We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. I am grateful to the FBI for their tireless work on this investigation.”
“Every law enforcement officer takes an oath to serve and protect the community-- that includes following the law they’ve sworn to uphold. I am proud of the diligent work our investigative team did on this case to bring Jenkins to justice,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division, Stanley M. Meador.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jenkins accepted cash bribes and bribes in the form of campaign contributions from co-defendants Rick Rahim, Fredric Gumbinner, and James Metcalf, as well as at least five others, including two FBI undercover agents.
Rahim, Gumbinner, and Metcalf have all pled guilty for their roles in the conspiracy.
Trump, famously unfazed by the notion of “unjust personal enrichment,” has been on quite a pardoning spree ever since he returned to the White House. But of the many convicted criminals who have benefited from the low bar he sets, Jenkins is among the more obscure. You have to wonder how a disgraced ex-sheriff from Culpeper caught his eye.
Could it be that our very own Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) helped tip the scales of injustice in Jenkins’s favor? When I consider the alliance of these two gents, I can well imagine Freitas whispering sweet nothings about Jenkins into Trump’s receptive ear. Note the following:
In 2019, Freitas’s campaign committee donated $1,000 to Jenkins’s campaign for reelection. This was the same year that the “Second Amendment sanctuary” movement took off, with both men fomenting MAGA outrage in Virginia. Freitas’s donation to the Jenkins campaign shows that he approved of the sheriff’s unsavory involvement in partisan politics.
In January 2020, Freitas and Jenkins were among the marginally recognizable names spouting off at a gun rights rally held outside the Capitol in Richmond. Both of them professed to be very concerned that Virginia’s Democratic legislators might pass gun control laws. NBC News quoted Jenkins: “I will choose to deputize thousands of my citizens to see they’re able to keep their lawfully owned firearms and not be disarmed.” Perhaps it was around this time that Jenkins began hatching his bribery scheme.
In April of this year, not long after Jenkins was sentenced to prison, Freitas posted a lengthy article on Facebook defending the ex-sheriff. The article’s author makes the case that Jenkins was set up by the Biden Administration and deserving of a pardon. Freitas coyly framed this nonsense as “a very interesting read.” In the comments thread, a number of Freitas devotees pushed back, arguing that (1) Jenkins did, in fact, break the law, and (2) the article was bogus. Freitas’s disingenuous response revealed his cynical disregard for the people who voted for him.
It is sickening to think that Jenkins is a free man when he should be donning a stylish new uniform and settling in for a decade of dyspeptic reflection. How I wish we had a state delegate with a working moral compass who would denounce Trump for this travesty.
Pardon me
There is a faint glimmer of hope on the horizon. As Byrd Street has previously reported, Freitas is not running for reelection and will step down at the end of the year, when his current term ends. Pardon me for being glad.
A year after the fire, Montpelier’s new archaeology lab is up and running
Last April, a terrible fire ripped through the archaeology office and lab at James Madison’s Montpelier. In its aftermath, Dr. Matthew Reeves, director of archaeology and landscape restoration, had to find a new home for his staff and the estate’s vast collection of archaeological artifacts and historical records. The logical place was just across the highway: the landmark Esso building that Montpelier owns.
Reeves and his crew are now housed in the renovated headquarters. To introduce the public to their new space, they hosted a well-attended open house a few weeks ago. I caught up with Reeves by email this week to find out how things have progressed over the past year.
Byrd Street: I know that it was devastating for you and your staff when the old archaeology office and lab burned down. What did it take to get from last year’s fire to this year’s impressive new setup?
Matt Reeves: Moving to the space we are in right now took so much energy and community effort. First, the efforts of the Orange County fire departments to extinguish the fire and save the artifact collection were absolutely inspiring, and we would have nothing if it wasn’t for their heroic efforts. The second was recovering all of the artifacts and paperwork out of the old lab, and that was a group bonding experience of archeology staff that I've never experienced in my life. It was something that we truly had to go beyond our pain and just throw ourselves into in order to save the collection and the department.
The months of April and May [2024] were just absolutely grueling, and somehow we made it through. We basically spent two months dressed in Tyvek and respirators to recover all the items out of the burnt office and lab. It was the outpouring of community support that gave us the strength to carry on and do what we did. This support came from the Montpelier Descendants Committee, local community members and from the hundreds of Expedition members that have attended our programs over the years on a continual basis.
Is the new archaeology lab better than the old one? If so, how?
The new lab is much more spacious. It’s in a beautiful building that’s really inspiring to us, and what’s most exciting is the history of the old store and the ties it has with the local community. This connection really came through in our open house and how many local community members came to share their memories and their excitement about us being in the building. It offers us new opportunities in terms of being visible on the property and to the community, and we’re excited about getting it open to the public.
Is the archaeology lab open to the public yet?
Right now, we’re not open to the public because we don’t have the staffing to have it open on weekends. If anybody wants to see the building, they should contact us at dig@montpelier.org, and we can arrange for a tour. I don’t have the capacity for drop-ins just yet.
How much did it cost to renovate the old Esso building to house the new lab and office? Who paid for the renovations?
The costs to renovate the old Esso building have come close to around $350,000, all funded from donations by Expedition members, the Perry Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We had to put in all-new HVAC systems. We had to repair ceilings in the roof. There was wood rot that needed repairs, and we had to build a whole new back deck and entrance. The building had not been maintained in decades and needed some tender loving care.
What was in the Esso building before the lab moved in? And how did you go about furnishing the space?
Before we moved in, the building was used for storage and had been used for a time as offices. All of our office equipment and furniture was obtained from surplus property at UVA. The folks there spent three months looking out for furniture, bookshelves, chairs and tables for us, and it took a lot of trips to UVA to pick all this up. When we were going to move over [to the new space], we realized we didn’t have any furniture at all ‘cuz it was all in the fire!
What happened to the old archaeology building and the trailer, both of which were ravaged by the fire?
The old archeology building and trailer are no longer usable as office space and are going to be torn down.
How long has your lab director, Liz McCague, been on your staff? How many archaeology staff members are there, including you?
Liz has been with us as the lab director for two years now, but prior to that she started here at Montpelier—taking a field school in 2015, working as an intern for a year, then as a crew member and then a crew chief—before going to graduate school for her Ph.D.
We have had a decrease in our staffing due to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts from federal grants. We have five full-time staff and two part-time staff.
What are your current archaeological projects?
Our current archaeological projects are doing survey and excavations of the old blacksmith shop that dates from the Revolutionary War era up by the Temple, and a set of homes for enslaved families adjacent to the blacksmith shop overlooking the old farm pond, just down slope from where the temple is.
Do you have other comments for Byrd Street readers?
If anyone has any memories they want to share about the old store [in the Esso building] or mementos, photos or paperwork that they would want to have scanned or photographed that relate to the store, we’d love to see them.
A major source of our income comes from the fees from our Expedition programs where people can come out for the week and do archeology with us. If anyone in the area [is interested in participating or] knows a friend or relative interested in doing archeology, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime. And it would help us keep going with our work and future plans.
The long spell in May
Memorial Day weekend was lovely, and we’re well above average in the rain department. The proof of the latter comes from the Northern Piedmont Research Center’s Jenny Sheetz, who reports 5.73 inches of rain thus far in May, compared to the historic average of 3.99 inches for the whole month. So far in 2025, the research center has measured 15.91 inches of precipitation, which is above the historic year-to-date average of 15.22 inches. Hence, the stunningly green grass.
My maternal grandmother used to talk about the “long spell in May,” a cool and dreary time that casts shade on the month’s otherwise chirpy good cheer. In my experience, it’s the rare May that doesn’t include a “long spell” to keep one’s enthusiasms in check. Onward to June, and more sunshine, please.
Byrd Street flower report: A chat with ace gardener Andra Landi
I recently visited Andra Landi at her home in Madison County, not far from Orange, and was dazzled by her wonderfully varied and well-tended flower gardens. A talented artist whom you may have met at The Arts Center in Orange, Andra agreed to answer a few gardening questions this week via text.
I asked whether she’s noticed a connection between her gardening and the number of birds around her home. “When Adam [Belmar] and I first moved to our current home, there was already a decent amount of wildlife activity simply by virtue of being in a rural area,” she wrote. “However, over the last four years, as I’ve focused on adding primarily a mix of native and other pollinator plants to the existing garden, we’ve seen a huge uptick in wildlife, in terms of both quantity and variety. We have an electronic device called a PUC on our porch that monitors bird calls, and on average, it detects about 3,000 calls from 30-40 separate bird species per day.”
As for all the little pollinators, she said, “The bees are really loving the scabiosa, feverfew and nepeta that are in bloom right now, as well as pretty much anything that blooms in our herb garden. The butterflies mostly seem to be drawn to the flashier flowers (zinnias, coreopsis, Mexican sunflower, etc.). Several of the butterfly species that live here have specific host and/or nectar plants that they prefer, so I grow fennel and dill for swallowtails, milkweed for monarchs and mallow family plants like hibiscus for painted ladies.”
She added, “It’s been great to see the changes over time from an environmental perspective, but it’s also just fun to have so many beautiful critters as companions when I’m working in the garden.”
Thanks for these gorgeous photos, Andra, and happy gardening!
Obituaries
Adelina Vazquez, 73, Orange; Robert “Bobby” Lee Shafer, 76, Barboursville; Paul Scott Stoner Sr., 53, Gordonsville.
Coming up soon
District 62 Republican Delegate Candidate Forum with Clay Jackson and Karen Hamilton, Marquis Station, 23191 Constitution Hwy, Unionville, 7 p.m., Thursday, May 29 (The announcement for this event specifies that it is open only to Republicans and Independent voters.)
Spring Concert, Orange Community Chorus, Orange Presbyterian Church, 2 p.m., Saturday, May 31
Fifth Saturday Open Mic & Jam, Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church, Rapidan, potluck supper, 6 p.m., and music (gospel, bluegrass, old favorites, musician's choice), 7-9 p.m., Saturday, May 31
Fun Band Sing Along, The Music Room, 135 E. Main St., Orange, 2-4 p.m., Sunday, June 1
2025 Orange Fireman’s Fair & Parade, 205 Caroline St., Wednesday, June 4-Saturday, June 7
Orange Uncorked Wine Festival, James Madison’s Montpelier, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 7-Sunday, June 8
Juneteenth, free community celebration sponsored by the Orange County African American Historical Society, African American Commemorative Park (corner of Church and Chapman streets), Orange, 12-4 p.m., Thursday, June 19
Rapidan Chamber Players, The Music Room, 135 E. Main St., Orange, 2 p.m., Saturday, June 21
Orange County Fair, Wednesday, June 25-Saturday, June 28
Recent back issues
Playing (un)fair: Karen Hamilton campaign signs violate county policy (May 21)
Deadlocked school board does not fill District 4 vacancy (May 7)