Career
Alton served as the Sheriff of Anne Arundel County from 1950 to 1962 and a State Senator from 1963 to 1965. He then served as the first County Executive of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. In 1974, Alton pleaded guilty in United States. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit extortion.
He was sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison, of which he served seven months at Allenwood Federal Prison Camp, in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.