2 months ago
A federal indictment says Dodge County's former sheriff won election by paying for votes.
A news release from Joseph Newman, acting U.S. attorney for the Savannah district, says 37-year-old Lawton Douglas and two other men are charged with paying off voters in a July 2004 primary election and a runoff the next month.
Douglas won and served a four-year term. He left office in December after being defeated for re-election.
The U.S. attorney says Douglas, 43-year-old Olin Gibson of Helena, also known as "Bobo," and Thedy McLeod are each charged with six counts of election fraud.
The indictment says Douglas' supporters took voters to the polls and stayed with them in the voting booth.
The indictment also says his supporters bought blank absentee ballots from voters and filled them out with Douglas' name. The document says they conspired to pay voters with cash, alcohol and drugs to get them to vote for Douglas.
Each man faces up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
They're scheduled to appear in federal court in Dublin on Oct. 1.
Current Dodge County Sheriff Jeff Hinson beat out Douglas in the 2008 Sheriff's race. He says he didn't notice anything suspicious during last year's campaign.
"We just ran our race, we didn't watch him or critique him, that's left up to the people who do that for a living, all we did was go around, knock on doors and shake hands and ask people for their votes," said Hinson.
