Updated at 1:41 p.m. to show Thursday's federal court hearing has been continued.
Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin did use money from the jail's inmate food fund to loan $150,000 to a now-bankrupt used car dealership, her attorneys said in court records.
Franklin's attorneys made that statement in a response to a motion filed by the Southern Center of Human Rights that said the sheriff needs to show why she shouldn't be held in contempt of a 2009 federal consent order. It previously had not been made clear whether Franklin's loan to the business had come from the food funds.
Franklin was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday morning at 9 a.m. for a hearing, but in a joint motion the sheriff and the Center asked for a continuance. U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon approved the continuance in an order today. Kallon has not rescheduled the hearing.
The hearing regards whether Franklin violated a 2009 consent order that says the Morgan County sheriff cannot use inmate food funds for anything other than feeding inmates. Franklin declined to comment, saying she can't speak about the case until after the hearing.
In their response motion, the sheriff's attorneys, T. Mark Maclin, of Athens, and Barney Lovelace, of Decatur, said Franklin's $150,000 loan to Priceville Partners in June 2015 was taken from the inmate food money.
"Sheriff Franklin acknowledges that the money she loaned that business came from funds removed from the Peoples Bank Food Account," the motion states.
Franklin was one of several people listed as a creditor in a March 2016 bankruptcy filing after Priceville Partners closed. The business' co-owner was arrested on accusations of running a theft and scam operation. That co-owner, Greg Steenson, went to federal prison for an unrelated check kiting scheme in the 90s. Franklin has said she did not know Steenson was a co-owner when she made a loan to the company.
Franklin and the other creditors listed in the $3.2 million bankruptcy lawsuit are not charged with theft crimes associated with the business. However, Morgan County prosecutors are alleging Steenson was selling stolen vehicles at the used car lot. The vehicles weren't owned by Steenson or the dealership, and clear titles weren't provided for the purchases, according to court records.
Franklin's lawyers also said in their response that what she did with the money doesn't matter because it's her private account. That assertion, however, is in question.
In general, Alabama sheriffs are allowed to keep any unspent food funds, but in Morgan County the consent decree prohibits the county's top cop from pocketing the money in addition to the $68,000 salary.
The consent decree stems from a 2001 federal lawsuit filed by Morgan County Jail inmates about conditions in the facility. The inmates sued the county and then-sheriff Steve Crabbe.
The Center said in its motion that Franklin must comply with the consent decree because "public officials are automatically substituted as parties to any case in which their predecessors in office were sued in their official capacity," according to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Franklin's predecessor, Greg Bartlett, was jailed for contempt of court after he was substituted as a defendant for Crabbe. Bartlett, who was dubbed "Sheriff Corndog" was found in contempt because he pocketed more than $200,000 while inmates were fed corndogs twice a day for weeks.
Franklin's attorneys argue the ruling doesn't apply to her, as U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon, who issued the consent decree, did not find unconstitutional the state law that allows sheriffs to keep unspent food funds.
To help pay for meals, Alabama pays Morgan County $1.75 per day for each state inmate that's housed in the jail. For each federal inmate meal, the county receives $3.
The Center in its court motion said Franklin removed $150,000 and $10,000 from the food account on June 5, 2015 by using two cashier's checks. Franklin refused to show records about what happened with the $160,000, the center said in its motion. But, she provided a document that showed an account named "Ana Woodard Franklin, Food Account" had a $160,000 balance in February. The account is listed under a Hartselle home address.
The sheriff's attorneys denied those claims, saying in their response that Franklin provided financial records requested by the Center.
The attorneys, citing two federal cases, also said Franklin should not be required to adhere to the consent decree because she was not involved in and did not consent to Bartlett's agreement in the order.
The motion asks if Bartlett had proposed and agreed in the consent order to work every day in the jail's kitchen, "Would that mean every sheriff after Sheriff Bartlett would also be required to work every day in the kitchen, etc.?"
The response motion from Franklin's attorneys also references the Morgan County Whistleblower, the blog which first made public cashier's checks that show Franklin withdrew $160,000 from the fund account in June 2015. The blog also published deposit slips that show Priceville Partners deposited more than $150,000 a few days later.
The blog is embroiled in an unrelated lawsuit between its creator, Glenda Lockhart, and the sheriff.
The lawsuit claims the sheriff's office illegally obtained information to convince a judge to issue a search warrant for Lockhart's home and business. Franklin has said her office seized computers and various other devices and filed during an investigation into fired jail warder Leon Bradley, who has been accused of leaking documents to Lockhart for publication on the blog.
Bradley was fired for administrative violations, and though he hasn't been charged with a crime, Franklin has said he's being investigated.
Source: www.bing.com
