A Mobile County constable sits in jail facing state and federal charges — including first-degree rape and illegal gun possession — while the county’s top prosecutor asks a judge to strip him of the office he was elected to hold.
Albert McCreary was located and arrested July 28 by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office working with Department of Homeland Security agents, the sheriff’s office announced Monday. Deputies had opened an investigation into the constable over alleged incidents of rape, sexual abuse, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful imprisonment, according to MCSO spokesperson Lori Myles.
How the traffic stop unraveled
Federal court records sketch how the arrest came together. McCreary was pulled over for a traffic violation, and while officers investigated, they discovered a firearm in his vehicle. McCreary allegedly told officers he was permitted to carry the weapon because of his position as a constable. The problem: he had previously been convicted of felony battery in Florida, which makes it a federal crime for him to possess a firearm at all.
The sheriff’s office laid out his criminal history in a press release, describing a record that includes an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge resolved as a misdemeanor improper exhibition of a firearm, a public aid fraud charge for which he received four years of probation, and a molestation charge involving a child under 12 that was dismissed in connection with a guilty plea to felony battery.
The state charges
McCreary has now been charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm, and first-degree unlawful imprisonment. The sheriff’s office did not release details about the circumstances of the state charges.
Sheriff Paul Burch said the multi-agency effort reflects how seriously the office treats allegations against an elected official. “This investigation demonstrates exactly why we work closely with our federal, state and local partners,” Burch said. “When allegations this serious are made, our responsibility is to follow the evidence wherever it leads. No title, position or elected office places anyone above the law. Our investigators will continue to pursue these cases thoroughly and professionally, and we will allow the judicial process to determine the outcome.”
A bid to remove him from office
Even as the criminal cases move forward, McCreary’s hold on the constable’s office is in jeopardy. The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office filed a complaint in Mobile County Circuit Court on July 30 asking Judge Wesley Pipes to remove McCreary from office on two grounds: that he is a felon, and that he has not lived in Mobile County since January — a residency requirement for a countywide office.
Constables in Alabama hold narrow but real authority, historically serving civil papers and performing limited law enforcement functions. A constable facing first-degree rape charges and a federal felon-in-possession case presents county officials with an unusual problem, because removal from an elected office generally requires a judicial proceeding rather than a simple resignation demand.
That proceeding is now pending. McCreary remains in custody as both the state charges and the federal gun case wind through the courts, and the removal complaint will be heard separately in circuit court. The District Attorney’s Office and the sheriff’s office both declined to speculate on the timeline, citing pending litigation.