Federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against Sheriff Charles Jenkins in Frederick County, Maryland, accusing him of helping a firearms dealer to illegally acquire automatic weapons.

A grand jury delivered a six-count indictment against Sheriff Jenkins and Robert Justin Krop, who owns a firearms dealership in Frederick County.

Under his federal firearms license, he is allowed to possess machine guns in certain circumstances.

Prosecutors said Sheriff Jenkins and Mr. Krop concocted a story where the sheriff’s department would ask for the machine guns for demonstration purposes, through what’s known as a “law letter.” That would allow Mr. Krop to obtain them.

In reality there was no demonstration and Mr. Krop was using the weapons as rentals for his customers, according to the indictment.

Authorities said Sheriff Jenkins certified that the weapons were “particularly suitable” for policing duties such as day-to-day patrol.

But at least one of the weapons was a belt-fed machine gun which the indictment said is “suitable only for combat.”

Sheriff Jenkins signed his law letter for Mr. Krop in 2015 and his most recent one in March 2022.

Having the weapons proved lucrative for Mr. Krop. His business collected more than $100,000 in rental fees on the guns in 2018 and 2019, the indictment charges.

Prosecutors said Mr. Krop’s business offered political support to Mr. Jenkins in exchange for his support for the gun business.

Mr. Krop is charged with illegally possessing seven machine guns.

Sheriff Jenkins, a Republican, first won election in 2006, and won reelection to a fifth term last year. It was a close contest that saw him become a target for immigrant-rights activists.

The Washington Times has reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.