Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed he bought a beach house with money that was supposed to have been used to feed inmates at the county jail. Now another scandal: Entrekin is accused of having sex with underage girls. His accuser, Etowah County native Mary Elizabeth Cross, says it happened in the summer of 1992. According to her account, she was 15 when she attended parties Entrekin hosted filled with alcohol, drugs and sex. It was during these parties, she alleges, he had sex with her four times. She says she also saw him rape another young woman. Entrekin denies the allegations.
WBHM’s Andrew Yeager spoke with al.com investigative reporter Connor Sheets, who broke this story.
Interview Highlights
On investigating her claims:
“Chas Clifton, who is the police chief for Oneonta [and prepared a police incident report], he used some various techniques aimed at trying to figure out if someone’s lying or if they’re misleading. And she never fell for any of those, so that was a good indication, like, let’s continue looking into this …
“I spoke with another girl who allegedly was raped by Todd Entrekin and another man … She said, yes, she did tell me she had been hooking up with these law enforcement officers. One of Mary’s family members confirmed some of the general gist of the allegations too … Obviously, something that happened in 1992, there’s no way I can say definitively, yes, this absolutely happened … but as far as, were [the allegations] credible to be reported? Yes.”
Why Mary Cross is speaking out now:
“She’s come clean off drugs. She’s not on alcohol anymore, according to her. She’s also found religion and gone to rehab facilities multiple times. What she says is that through that process she’s been able to realize that in order to move forward in her life and do what she describes as ‘God’s work,’ she needs to sort of get past her past. For her, this was sort of a cathartic experience on some level.”
What happens now:
“[Entrekin’s] lawyer has requested that there be an investigation into these allegations by Miss Cross. Police Chief Clifton, I know that he is very interested in having it be taken over by a state entity. I understand that there is some interest from state authorities. That’s just anecdotal.”