Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin legally pocketed $750,000 from the fund for prisoners’ food provision and then bought a $740,000 beach house, a reporter from The Birmingham News discovered.

Under a law dating back to the Great Depression, sheriffs in Alabama can “keep and retain” unspent money from prison food funds, but will have to fund any subsequent shortfall out of their own pocket.

Defending himself from criticism, Sheriff Entrekin said: “The law says it’s a personal account and that’s the way I’ve always done it.”

There are no reliable figures on the amount of money pocketed by Alabama sheriffs under the law as most do not declare it as income.