Federal prosecutors will drop the machine gun conspiracy case against Frederick County Sheriff Charles “Chuck” Jenkins after gun shop owner, Robert Krop, was acquitted in the conspiracy in October.

Krop, the owner of The Machine Gun Nest in Frederick, and Jenkins were accused of conspiring to illegally acquire machine guns by misleading the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about the intended use of the firearms.

Jenkins’ federal indictment accused him of sending fake “law” letters to the bureau to take advantage of an exemption that allows licensed dealers to possess, transfer or import machine guns as if they’re being used as samples for potential law enforcement or military purchasers.

Federal prosecutors alleged that no such demonstrations occurred and that the guns were instead intended to be used by The Machine Gun Nest as rentals. An indictment claimed that Krop offered Jenkins political support in exchange for the fraudulent letters and that, from 2018 to 2019, the gun rentals led to more than $100,000 in profit.

Krop was acquitted Oct. 22 after Krop’s attorneys pointed out during the trial that the ATF’s policies do not define a demonstration. That alone, defense attorney Luke Cass said during his closing argument, created enough of a reasonable doubt to acquit Krop.

Jenkins, 68, serving his fifth term as sheriff, said during a news conference Tuesday that he believed the case was a ploy to ruin his reputation.

“For 587 days I have been the target of a malicious and, what I believe, is political persecution,” Jenkins said. “I believe the DOJ has made every effort to ruin my reputation as sheriff, punish and financially destroy me knowing very well I committed no crimes.”

He compared the prosecution to the July 13th assassination attempt of Donald Trump.

“It was a near miss. I was injured and I was bloodied but I never gave up the fight and I never will,” he said.

Jenkins claimed that agents from the ATF came into his office at the start of the case and “secretly recorded” the conversation he had with them. He said federal prosecutors evaluated his campaign finances and personal finances and did not find evidence of corruption.

“In my opinion, there was just never a case,” said Jenkins’ attorney, Andrea Smith. “I can’t tell you how many times we asked the government to just show us something. I kept looking at this evidence and it just wasn’t there.”

The case was dismissed around noon Tuesday with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be refiled.

When the case started, Jenkins said the court mandated that he turn over his service weapon and all of the weapons in his home. He said he never ceased his duties as sheriff even when he was unarmed and opened his jacket during the news conference to show off his duty pistol on his hip.

“For this entire time of 587 days, I am doing my job to protect everybody else with no means of protecting myself — mostly in uniform,” Jenkins said. “I believe this prosecution has been about public embarrassment, humiliation [and] demeaning me personally, along [with] damaging my reputation.”

When asked if he would be pursuing retribution against the federal government, Smith said he and his lawyer are evaluating next steps and investigating whether prosecutors targeted him because of his conservative political stances.

Jenkins said has met Krop twice and that the two of them talked about automatic rifle demonstrations in reference to events across the county in which violent acts had been committed against law enforcement using automatic weapons.

“The ATF lets these weapons out on the street, I don’t,” Jenkins said.

“I have always believed in the justice system,” Jenkins said, “but this ordeal has made me believe that the people running the system are not the right people.”

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.