Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin on Friday slammed "fake news" and repeatedly denied that he has done anything wrong by pocketing more than $750,000 worth of public money allocated to feed inmates in the county jail he oversees.

"There are so many falsehoods, half-truths and unfair allegations that have been reported in the press," he said.

The remarks came during a tense press conference in a room on the ground floor of the detention center, which houses hundreds of federal, state and municipal inmates.

"It's the law. I haven't done anything wrong," Entrekin said. "If I've done something wrong, they need to change the law."

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin speaks at a press conference in Gadsden on Friday. (Connor Sheets | csheets@al.com)

He was echoing an argument he has consistently made in statements to the press ever since AL.com first published a story last week exposing both that Entrekin pocketed the $750,000 and that in September he bought a $740,000 beach house in Orange Beach.

Entrekin's staff gave reporters packets of materials including his 2015 and 2016 tax returns prior to the press conference. But he said he could not hand over documents that show exactly how the inmate-feeding funds have been spent, citing the fact that his office and those of 48 other Alabama county sheriffs are currently being sued to produce those records.

Aaron Littman, staff attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights - a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit pursuing the inmate-feeding records - responded via email Friday to Entrekin's argument for not releasing the documents.

"Sheriff Entrekin has suggested that he is free to pick and choose what information he releases," Littman said. "In fact, Alabama law compels him - and every other sheriff across the state -- to disclose how jail food funds are being spent."

Entrekin stated Friday that he "never wanted" to run the jail's food service program, and urged the state Legislature to pass legislation to take that responsibility - and the monetary windfall that can come with it - away from county sheriffs such as himself.

"I think there needs to be a statewide bill," he said.

But he admitted that he has personally pocketed more than three-quarters of a million dollars over the past three years, and said that though he is aware of the bad optics of such a situation, he believes the law requires him to keep the money for himself.

"What can I do about it?" he asked.

Some Alabama counties, including Jefferson and Montgomery, have passed local legislation to transfer inmate-feeding responsibilities from sheriffs to the county government. Entrekin said he has tried unsuccessfully in the past to get the Etowah County Commission to do exactly that.

"If the County Commission wanted to take that over I would not object," he said.

The Etowah County Sheriff's office said it served prisoners in the county jail trays of breakfast exactly like this one on Friday morning. (Connor Sheets | csheets@al.com)

Entrekin also responded to persistent complaints made in recent years by inmates, advocates and lawyers who claim that the jail serves inadequate, poor-quality food. An AL.com story published Thursday detailed complaints by former inmates who said they were fed "rotten," "outdated" and "tasteless" food while incarcerated in the Etowah County Detention Center.

Entrekin denies that there are any valid concerns about the food his jail serves.

"This is a jail, this is not a bed and breakfast, Domino's does not deliver here ... but we do prepare a healthy meal that is served here three times a day," Entrekin said. "It is true that many of our people are not happy with the food they are served."