A die-hard MAGA sheriff in Virginia charged with accepting bribes for deputy badges allegedly sold one to a controversial Iraqi fixer linked to Kurdistan prime minister and accused kleptocrat Masrour Barzani.
That’s according to an FBI search warrant affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast, which reveals Virginia-based businessman Haval Dosky was swept up in a federal investigation that has upended the decade-plus tenure of Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins. Prosecutors say donors who gave generously to Jenkins’ 2019 reelection campaign were rewarded by being made reserve deputies—which also gave them permission to carry a concealed weapon in all 50 U.S. states.
Dosky, who has not been charged with a crime, was sworn in as a Culpeper deputy in exchange for a $5,000 donation to Jenkins’ campaign committee, the search warrant affidavit states. His alleged involvement in the plot has never been previously disclosed.
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Jenkins, a so-called constitutional sheriff who opposes all forms of common-sense gun control, was indicted in June on a slew of public corruption charges related to the alleged scheme. Three Virginia businessmen also allegedly bought commissions as Culpeper reserve deputies, were indicted alongside Jenkins. The affidavit cites a cooperating witness who solicited funds for Jenkins, and told the FBI he “knew of at least eight individuals who were sworn as auxiliary officers in exchange for contributions.”
Jenkins has vociferously denied any wrongdoing, and recently launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his legal defense. Among the first to give was former Trump national security adviser and QAnon acolyte Mike Flynn, who kicked in $500.
Dosky did not respond to multiple emailed requests for comment, and did not pick up any of several cell phones associated with him. On Tuesday, Dosky’s wife answered a call to a phone number listed under her husband’s name in public records, and told The Daily Beast she would pass along a message. (Dosky never called back.)
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia, declined to provide further information about the case or any possible charges pending against Dosky.
The probe into Dosky began in the summer of 2021, a year after news reports emerged accusing him of helping the Barzani family fleece U.S. taxpayers by charging three to five times the going rate for fuel delivered to American military bases in Erbil.
Details of the Culpeper County cash-for-badges program were brought to the FBI’s attention by an unnamed businessman facing federal charges in an unrelated matter, the affidavit states. It says he had been tasked with recruiting donors for Jenkins’ campaign, and had himself been sworn in by Jenkins as a Culpeper reserve deputy as payback for his own contribution.
The businessman, who lived in Virginia but not in Culpeper County, told investigators that he had introduced Dosky to Jenkins “for the purpose of having Dosky make a contribution to Jenkins’ campaign in exchange for being sworn as a reserve CCSO deputy,” according to the affidavit, which says Dosky, who is also not a Culpeper County resident, wrote a $5,000 check to “Scott Jenkins for Sheriff” in late 2018.
The businessman gave the FBI a series of text messages between himself and Jenkins, in which they discussed a potential get-together between Dosky and the sheriff.
“Hey I got two great awesome guys that come in as supporters… Big $$ excellent reputation,” the businessman wrote. “They wanna get sworn n will be there when you need them big $$... Can we set up a Mert n greet [sic] later this week?”
“Sure,” Jenkins replied, according to the affidavit. “My first three days are packed but Thursday Friday ok or following week too[.]”
Six days later, the businessman texted Jenkins pictures of two driver’s licenses, the affidavit goes on. One belonged to a local car dealer, the affidavit states. The other belonged to Dosky, it says.
“These are the two friends I told you about,” the businessman texted Jenkins, according to the affidavit. “... Big $$$$... Haval is multimillionaire n good buddy to us both n huge [non-profit organization] supporter.”
Dosky and the other man were both “great guys with outstanding ethics and reputations,” the businessman added.
On April 18, 2018, the businessman and Jenkins had lunch at the Piedmont Steakhouse in Culpeper to discuss next steps, the affidavit states. About 20 minutes before they met up, a user at the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office ran Dosky’s name through the National Crime Information Center database to see if he had a criminal record, according to the affidavit. A little less than two weeks after that, the antsy businessman texted Jenkins again, the affidavit says.
“Hi Scott…. Any chance of getting Tim n Haval sworn this week? Lmk,” the message read, according to the affidavit.
Jenkins responded the next morning, with an apology for the delay.
“I’ll check today on the guys and get back to you if we can make that happen,” he wrote.
Over the next few months, the businessman and Jenkins “exchanged text messages that discussed completing the associated paperwork for Dosky to be sworn in as a reserve deputy and scheduling a time for Dosky to swear his oath as a reserve deputy,” the affidavit continues. “It was ultimately determined that Dosky would be sworn in on July 11, 2018, at 11:00 a.m.”
When the date rolled around, the businessman texted Jenkins at 10:33 a.m., according to the affidavit.
“Did you want me to run Haval down to get sworn or wait for you Sir?” he wrote. “We are with Ana now doing ID.”
“Be there in a few,” Jenkins wrote back, the affidavit states.
That October, Jenkins texted the businessman to ask if Dosky could help secure a speaker for the Culpeper Republican Club’s annual “Reagan Dinner,” according to the affidavit.
“Can you get hold of Haval and see if it’s possible to [get unnamed political figure] or not,” Jenkins wrote.
The next day, Jenkins followed up with another text, saying, “Can you shout me Haval’s cell number please. I need him to get a message to [unnamed political figure] for me.”
It is unclear who the two were discussing, as the political figure’s name is redacted in the affidavit. However, the speaker at the dinner that year was Trump campaign lawyer Joseph DiGenova, who called for CISA chief Christopher Krebs to be executed over publicly doubting the ex-president’s claims of voter fraud.
Dosky paid for his deputy’s badge some five months after he was sworn in, making his contribution to Jenkins’ campaign on Dec. 29, 2018, the affidavit states. The check was deposited on Jan. 11, 2019, about two weeks before the Reagan dinner, it says.
The affidavit is signed off by FBI Special Agent Scott Medearis, who wrote, in summary, “I believe the campaign finance records, bank records, NCIC records, and text messages discussed above are corroborative of the [businessman-informant’s] statements and establish probable cause that Jenkins, Dosky, and others have engaged in a scheme to defraud the people of Culpeper of their right to honest services.”
The feds took possession of Dosky’s iPhone as part of an unrelated investigation, according to the affidavit, which says the investigative team on that case shared information with agents looking into Jenkins. The Jenkins investigators then obtained a search warrant to extract any communications by Dosky with or about Jenkins, the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office, records of payments or donations to Jenkins or other sheriffs, financial records, and phone location data.
Jenkins is charged with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of federal programs bribery, and four counts of honest services mail fraud and wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum prison term of five years, 10 years, and 20 years, respectively.
Philip Andonian, Jenkins’ attorney, did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
