Atlanta Unfiltered

September 26, 2009 --

Cash, alcohol and — gasp! — drugs were used to buy votes on behalf of former Dodge County Sheriff Lawton Douglas in 2004, a federal indictment alleges.

Douglas and two others are accused in a six-count indictment unsealed Sept. 15. He is charged with giving co-defendants Olin Norman “Bobo” Gibson and Thedy Deneen McLeod, along with other co-conspirators, money to buy votes for him in the July 2004 Democratic primary and a runoff the following month.

Douglas won the 2004 election and served until his defeat in 2008 by Republican Jeff Hinson.

All three defendants are accused of a conspiracy to buy votes with cash, alcohol and drugs. Gibson allegedly took voters to the polls and went into the voting booth with them to make sure they voted as agreed.

Gibson and others also purchased absentee ballots and delivered them to Douglas, who then cast the ballots for himself and turned them in, the indictment alleges.

Two voters, identified in the indictment only by their initials, were among those whose votes were bought.

A federal grand jury handed down the indictment under seal July 9. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in Dublin.

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