Sheriff personally pocketing jail food money
2018-03-13 19:11:32.272818+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Etowah sheriff pockets $750k in jail food funds, buys $740k beach house.
Many Alabama sheriffs contend that the practice of keeping "excess" inmate-feeding funds for themselves is legal under a state law passed before World War II. Yet in a number of counties including Jefferson and Montgomery, any money allocated to sheriffs for feeding inmates that is not used for that purpose is instead turned over to the county government.
Entrekin reported on forms he filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission that he made "more than $250,000" each of the past three years via the inmate-feeding funds.
The self-driving truck craze has reminded me of "Smokey and the Bandit", and from that I've gotten to thinking about the whole "out of control sheriff as local dictator" concept that was so popular in '70s and '80s culture; action TV shows and movies of that era had vigilantes in the southwest protecting hapless citizens from out of control law enforcement. Maybe we gave up that trope in popular entertainment too soon?