The Alabama sheriff who pocketed $750,000 in inmate food funds and bought himself a $740,000 beach house was voted out of office Tuesday.
Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin conceded to his Republican primary challenger Jonathon Horton, the Rainbow City police chief, in a phone call Tuesday night, Horton told AL.com. The outlet said early returns showed Horton with an “overwhelming lead.”
Horton currently faces no declared Democratic or independent challengers in the general election and is expected to be elected to the position, AL.com said.
The outlet pushed Entrekin’s story into the national spotlight: In a series of reports, it highlighted how sheriffs in Alabama had benefitted from a decades-old law that allows them to keep excess funds meant to feed inmates in their jails.
Entrekin denied using the funds to buy a beach house. AL.com reported on checks printed with the words “Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account” that Entrekin had used to pay a teenager to mow his lawn.
All the while, according to AL.com, inmates in Entekin’s custody ate meat labeled “Not Fit For Human Consumption” and ate expired and contaminated food donated to the jail by local non-profits and corporations.
