Thread by @propublica

1/ Some sheriffs throw “childish” tantrums after losing reelection. Our investigation w/ @reckonalabama found:

👉🏽 Govt-issued phones with holes drilled in them
👉🏽 40 lbs of rice down the drain
👉🏽 Wasted and pocketed public $

Apparently, it’s a tradition. propub.li/2XfuLXk

2/ We talked to 10 Alabama sheriffs who unseated incumbents in 2018.

Only *one* reported a smooth transition.

The other 9 described actions that could sound like hazing, or worse.

Let’s run through the big ones 👇🏽 propub.li/2FbvEpM

3/ Phil Sims beat J. Scott Walls to become sheriff of Marshall County, Alabama.

When he entered the office on his first day, he found a box w/ five government-issued smartphones, each with holes drilled clear through them. propub.li/2XfuLXk

4/ Those drums? They’re 55-gallons, filled with dishwashing detergent.

After Walls lost reelection, he bought those + 24,000 rolls of toilet paper ($20,000) + 450 trash bags ($9000).

Context: the office has $15,000 budgeted for janitorial supplies.

propub.li/2XfuLXk

5/ Records show that Walls was wired tens of thousands of dollars from the sheriff's office’s general fund after he lost reelection.

He and his lawyer didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment, but he explained the toilet paper last October in the Advertiser-Glean.

6/ There’s more.

Sims says his first crisis as sheriff was finding food to feed jail inmates. The pantry was empty.

Two people told us that 40 pounds of rice had been poured down the drain the weekend before he took office. Roto-Rooter had to be hired to unclog the drain.

7/ Last year, @aldotcom reported that Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin pocketed more than $750,000 in funds meant to feed jail inmates, then purchased a $740,000 beach house.

(That was legal at the time. Alabama’s legislature since changed the law)
al.com/news/birmingha…

8/ We just found more.

Records show he took home $269,184 more in checks — $ initially allocated to feed federal immigration detainees and state and municipal inmates housed in the county jail.

He & his lawyer didn’t respond when we asked about it. al.com/news/2019/06/a…

9/ Then there’s Dennis Meeks.

After losing reelection, Meeks spent more than $6,200 on coloring books, Frisbees, pencils & promo items.

Explanation? He says he buys every year for county fair “but I had something come up so I couldn’t make it this year." propub.li/2XfuLXk

10/ His successor also says roughly $40,000 in discretionary funds is unaccounted for. Meeks denies any wrongdoing.

11/ Sheriff LeRoy Upshaw stopped selling pistol permits and halted the jail’s work release program after his defeat, his successor, Tyrone Smith, says.

When Smith started, he says the office had lost $1000s / month in revenue.

Upshaw didn’t respond to requests for comment.

12/ OK, Sheriff Jim Underwood—

After he lost reelection, discretionary spending skyrocketed.

$9,000 on gloves found online for $1,300
$13,000 on a washing machine found online for $3,000

Plus he purchased four cars. Here’s how he explained it: propub.li/2XfuLXk

13/ Bobby Timmons, exec director of the Alabama Sheriffs Association said it’s common for sheriffs to engage in small feuds with their successors.

“The one that gets defeated, he doesn’t want to be defeated, he doesn’t want to lose,” he said. propub.li/2XfuLXk

13/ This dubious but little-known tradition is just one example of how sheriffs, who act with little oversight, wield extraordinary power in their counties.

w/ @aldotcom/@reckonalabama, we’ll be looking into this for the rest of the year.

Keep up: propub.li/31yeoVd