A second whistleblower has revealed Chuck Jenkins, the Frederick County Sheriff, has a management problem.
Retired Frederick County Sheriff Sergeant Amanda Ensor spoke exclusively with A Miner Detail.
Ensor previously investigated A Miner Detail columnist Eric Beasley at Jenkins’ direct and recently sued Sheriff Chuck Jenkins for gender discrimination.
Amanda Ensor Career
Sergeant Amanda Ensor, or “Mandy” as she prefers, has worked at the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office since 2002.
Jenkins gave Ensor and her husband, Dave, an award in 2016.
According to the Frederick News-Post, Jenkins said he was “proud” of both deputies.”
“They’re a great couple, they’re both great deputies and again, it’s a reflection on the agency as a whole,” he said.
Ensor’s colleagues within the department say her reputation is stellar.
A former addict named Cyndi credits Ensor for helping her gain control of her life from her addiction.
From addict to a business owner, Ensor walked her through fixing her legal mess.
“I wouldn’t have the life I do now” without Ensor, Cyndi told A Miner Detail.
Dobre Brothers Video
Ensor’s career took a sharp turn for the worst in September 2018.
She participated in a prank video with the Dobre Brothers while in her police uniform.
Shortly after the video incident, Ensor was placed on medical leave to recover from surgery and was later notified of the investigation by a Frederick County Sheriff Lieutenant.
Sheriff Chuck Jenkins directed Ensor’s supervisors to initiate an administrative punishment against her over the Dobre Brothers video incident.
On January 29th, 2019, Ensor accepted an administrative punishment for participating in the YouTube video.
The charging document can be found here.
Ensor provided notes to the disciplinary board.
Her notes can be found by clicking this link.
A summary of Ensor’s notes included:
- A pattern demonstrating Frederick County law enforcement officers engaging in similar publicity stunts.
- Frederick County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Eyler performed a similar publicity stunt at a church before Ensor’s video was released.
- Lieutenant Jeff Eyler’s father, Thurmont Chief of Police Greg Eyler, appeared in a similar prank video for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
Chuck Jenkins Transfers Amanda Ensor to Frederick County Judicial Services
Ensor was transferred from patrol operations to judicial services.
Jenkins drafted a memorandum to Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner regarding the matter.
“Due to an increase in responsibility and the number of personnel supervised, the Sheriff’s Office would like to reclassify the Court Security Corporal’s position to a sworn Court Security Sergeant’s position,” Jenkins’ memo said, in part.
She said that despite records showing that Ensor earned high marks for her previous job performance reviews, her first performance review at Judicial Services was less than satisfactory.
Lieutenant Jason Null listed numerous “failings” during her first three months in her new role.
Some notable complaints included:
- Null complained that Ensor stopped on Interstate 70 when she witnessed a car fire with no emergency responders on site, which made her “late” to work.
- Ensor extinguished the fire with her car extinguisher.
Ensor also shared an email with A Miner Detail, which she exchanged with her attorney regarding Former Lieutenant (now Captain) Jason Null’s behavior directed at her.
Ensor alleged the following:
- Null scolded her for providing a written response to her first performance review and forced her to read them aloud to him.
- The department sets different standards for different officers. For example, Frederick County Sheriff’s Sergeant Gregory was allowed to clock in and out from his home address.
- Null authorized a third party to eavesdrop on a conversation between Ensor and Null.
Another Frederick County Police, Officer Monaco, made similar allegations against Null.
Chuck Jenkins Sued
Ensor filed an Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) complaint against Sheriff Chuck Jenkins.
The government investigated itself and found that it did nothing wrong.
Ensor initiated a lawsuit against Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, Captain Ron Hibbard, Lieutenant Jeff Eyler, Lieutenant Greg Warner, and Lieutenant (now Captain) Jason Null.
The lawsuit claim letter can be read here.
The letter alleges Sheriff Chuck Jenkins misrepresented her transfer to County Executive Jan Gardner. This fact is supported by documents provided to A Miner Detail by Ensor.
A Miner Detail previously obtained and reported on the lawsuit can be read here.
Ensor claims Jenkins Covered For Preferred Deputies
Ensor claims that Jenkins and other Frederick County Sheriffs discriminated against her based on sex.
She cites instances within her lawsuit where other deputies made similar videos without department authorization; the same deputies were not disciplined.
In Paragraph 30 of the lawsuit, Ensor describes a Deputy opening a safe without a warrant.
The deputy responsible was Lieutenant Jason Null, now a captain.
Ensor also alleges that Deputy First Class Allen Herrmann burglarized a condominium while intoxicated in Ocean City, Maryland.
Presently, Allen Herrmann is the School Resource Officer for Urbana High and feeder schools.
Does Sheriff Jenkins Retaliate?
In 2021, A Miner Detail published an article about former Frederick County Councilman Kai Hagen observing a traffic stop.
Sheriff Chuck Jenkins withheld from public mention that his son, Frederick County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Jenkins, was the law enforcement officer involved in the traffic stop witnessed by Hagen.
Amanda Ensor came under another administrative investigation resulting from the same traffic incident.
She also said she spent a year under investigation and was subjected to polygraph tests and considerable legal expenses.
Additionally, Ensor said she believes the Office of the Attorney General had her under surveillance at the request of Sheriff Jenkins.
Amanda Ensor’s Frederick County Courthouse Duties
Ensor’s responsibilities at the Frederick County courthouse included investigating threats received by public officials at the judicial branch.
In previous instances, public officials were subjected to threats of violence; allegedly, no action was taken.
In March 2019, Ensor received praise from Lieutenant Null for investigating two threats against public officials.
Ensor confirmed that neither party was ever charged with a crime.
The investigations surrounding the public threats were documented in her performance review.
Amanda Ensor Regrets Investigating Eric Beasley
Ensor said she regrets investigating Eric Beasley for his journalistic activities.
Unlike other cases, Beasley’s alleged crime was requesting the financial disclosures of a public official and writing articles about them in an election year.
In the summer of 2020, Jenkins called Ensor and Lieutenant John Benner into his office.
Ensor said Jenkins bullied her into filing criminal charges against Beasley.
DFC Stephanie Kelley described a similar incident, with Sheriff Chuck Jenkins quashing criminal charges against Michael Menday, covered in a previous article.
Ensor wishes to correct the record.
In this series of articles, A Miner Detail reported that Beasley and his associates collected a series of innocuous social media posts.
Ensor said there was no such collection or continuous monitoring.
As part of her duties, she received updates from public officials about Beasley’s speech and articles.
Ensor’s Parting Words
Reflecting on her 20-year law enforcement career, Amanda Ensor stressed the professionalism and capabilities of her colleagues.
Ensor said she hopes Chuck Jenkins is defeated in the 2022 sheriff’s election.
Jenkins, however, won re-election in 2022.
“I truly enjoyed the first 16 years of my career, and I hope I made an impact in the community,” she said.
