A former Alabama sheriff pleaded guilty in a state court Tuesday to an ethics charge, admitting that he depositing more than $32,000 in checks meant to support his office and prisoners into bank accounts controlled by him and his family, announced Attorney General Steve Marshall.

“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 statement.

Ex-Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw, who was sheriff for 12 years from January 2007 to January 2019, pleaded guilty to a charge of using his office or official position for personal gain.

With his guilty plea in Barbour County Circuit Court, the former sheriff agreed that he or a sheriff’s employee acting on his behalf wrote himself checks totaling $32,135 from the office bank accounts.

While the funds were meant to support the office and care for prisoners, Upshaw deposited the checks into bank accounts owned by him or his family, the attorney general said.