Former Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw has been convicted of using his office for personal financial gain, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Tuesday.
The sheriff for 12 years until 2019 admitted in a plea hearing that he or an employee under his direction wrote Upshaw checks totaling more than $32,000 from the sheriff’s office bank accounts. Upshaw deposited those checks into accounts belonging to him or his family members.
Upshaw, of Eufaula, pleaded guilty in Barbour County Circuit Court to a Class B felony.
“Abusing the taxpayers’ money will not be tolerated in our state, and I am pleased the defendant will be held accountable for betraying the public’s trust,” Marshall said in a written statement.
Upshaw was first arrested in September 2020.
Class B felonies in Alabama carry prison sentences of two to 20 years.