Todd Entrekin, the Etowah County sheriff in Alabama who reportedly kept nearly $750,000 in extra government funding that was meant to feed inmates, lost his re-election bid in a Tuesday night primary, Alabama news site AL.com reported.
The probate office in Etowah County reported that Jonathan Horton, Rainbow City police chief, received 12,196 votes to Entrekin’s 6,742 with 34 out of the county’s 35 ballot boxes reporting, the report said.
No Democrats or independents are set to run against Horton in the general election, the report said.
"I thank God and my wife and I believe that this is a credit to running a clean, transparent campaign," Horton said in a Tuesday night interview, AL.com reported.
In March, AL.com reported that Entrekin had kept for personal use $750,000 in government funding over the course of three years. On ethics disclosures, he reported the money as being from “food provisions.”
AL.com’s report noted that Entrekin and wife Karen in September purchased a house for $740,000 in an upscale section of Orange Beach, Florida, and Etowah County residents questioned how a sheriff could purchases such as house on a five-figure annual salary.
Many Alabama sheriffs claim that the use of "excess" funding to feed inmates is legal under a state law Alabama passed before World War II. However, in a number of large counties in the state such as Jefferson and Montgomery, any money not used in feeding inmates is turned over to county government, the report said.
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