BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - An Alabama sheriff was arrested Friday and agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of scamming a food bank and his own small-town church to pocket thousands under an old law that let state sheriffs profit from feeding prisoners. Pickens County Sheriff David Abston, who held office in the rural west Alabama county for more than three decades, agreed to plead guilty to fraud and filing a false tax return, court records show. “A sitting county sheriff is alleged to have defrauded a food bank and a church for his personal gain at the expense of the underprivileged that the food bank serves,” U.S. Attorney Jay Town said in a statement. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOWThe statement said Abston got his own church, Highland Baptist of Gordo, involved in the West Alabama Food Bank in 2014. Sheriffs get state reimbursements to feed jail prisoners, and an old Alabama law let them keep any leftover funds.

Source: thestar June 14, 2019 18:45 UTC