Alabama Sheriff Legally Took $750,000 Meant To Feed Inmates, Bought Beach House

[mfcorey1]

Thief! Thief!! Thief!! Damn shame!!!!

A sheriff in Alabama took home as personal profit more than $750,000 that was budgeted to feed jail inmates — and then purchased a $740,000 beach house, a reporter at The Birmingham News found.

And it's perfectly legal in Alabama, according to state law and local officials.

Alabama has a Depression-era law that allows sheriffs to "keep and retain" unspent money from jail food-provision accounts. Sheriffs across the state take excess money as personal income — and, in the event of a shortfall, are personally liable for covering the gap.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told the News that he follows that practice of taking extra money from the fund, saying, "The law says it's a personal account and that's the way I've always done it."

Sheriffs across the state do the same thing and have for decades. But the scale of the practice is not clear: "It is presently unknown how much money sheriffs across the state have taken because most do not report it as income on state financial disclosure forms," the Southern Center for Human Rights wrote in January.

But in Etowah County, the News found the paper trail.

'Following the letter of the law'

The News discovered the eye-popping figures on ethics disclosures that Entrekin sent to the state: Over the course of three years, he received more than $750,000 in extra compensation from "Food Provisions." The exact amount over $750,000 is unclear, because Entrekin was not required to specify above a $250,000 a year threshold, the paper writes.

The paper also found that Entrekin and his wife own several properties worth a combined $1.7 million, including a $740,000 four-bedroom house in Orange Beach, Ala., purchased in September.

Without the provision funds, Entrekin earns a little more than $93,000 a year, the paper says.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/14/593204274/alabama-sheriff-legally-took-750-000-meant-to-feed-inmates-bought-beach-house

[democratisphere]

1. Good ol' fashion southern corruption.

Who came up with that crazy law. It could only breed corruption!

[DrDan]

5. good thing for us that it is restricted to the South

[democratisphere]

6. Oh Lordy you know it!

[dameatball]

2. Greed is a disease.

[Initech]

10. It's an addiction, and should be treated as such.

If you have a house full of shoes, you're a hoarder.

If you have a giant storage shed full of dolls, you're a hoarder.

If you have more wealth than an entire city combined, you're not a hoarder, you're a "job creator".

Something is wrong with this picture.

[dameatball]

12. Good analogy

[GitRDun]

3. Where are the adults?

Where is the press? Decades? Really?

I'm starting to think we are a nation of complete fucking morons...

[Initech]

4. Utterly deplorable! Inexcusable!

[Mosby]

7. proving once again that republicans lack a moral compass

[bluestarone]

8. If this is true

It's total BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are the fucking people there?????

[procon]

9. And they're feeding the inmates...what?

Rotten, spoiled food? Cheap, empty carbs, little protein, no fresh produce, no balanced, healthy diet, that's for sure.

Since when id $93K considered chump change, especially in Alabama where the per capita income is $26K? That sheriff is a man without honor, a wealthy man, a crook, and he's not only stealing from prisoners, but the taxpayers as well. Until the legislature end the corruption and thievery, he should eat the exact same food that he serves in his jails.

[Flaleftist]

11. Is it possible some prisoners have poor health

due to poor nutrition? Maybe there could be a class action lawsuit here.

[errant boy]

13. Crimson Tide?

No, just green.

[radical noodle]

14. How is that accounted for on taxes?

If they have income from the account but do not report it, aren't they committing tax fraud?

[TheFrenchRazor]

15. OMFG. we all knew the "Law" was a criminal enterprise, but this takes it to a whole new level. nt