Former Dodge County Sheriff and Deputy Sentenced for 2004 Election Fraud

MICHAEL LAWTON DOUGLAS, JR., 38, the former Sheriff of Dodge County, and OLIN NORMAN GIBSON, 44, a former Dodge County Deputy Sheriff, were sentenced June 28 before The Honorable Dudley H. Bowen, Jr., United States District Judge, at the federal courthouse in Dublin, Georgia.

At an earlier change-of-plea hearing, Douglas pled guilty to conspiring to buy votes and to vote more than once in connection with his election in 2004 as Dodge County Sheriff. Gibson pled guilty to buying votes for Douglas during that election. Evidence at the hearing established that Douglas provided money to various supporters, including Gibson, to be used to pay hundreds of voters to vote for him in the election. Douglas’s supporters also paid voters for absentee ballots, and in particular blank absentee ballots, in order to fill those ballots out for Douglas and cast them improperly in the election. Douglas was elected as Dodge County Sheriff in 2004 and served as Sheriff until his re-election campaign was defeated in 2008.

Judge Bowen today sentenced Douglas to 18 months in prison to be followed by a three year term of supervised release. Douglas was additionally ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and complete 150 hours of community service. Gibson received four months in prison, a three year term of supervised release, a $1,000 fine, and 150 hours of community service.

United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver said, “Election fraud strikes at the very heart of our democracy. This office and our law enforcement partners will exercise zero tolerance in our efforts to apprehend and prosecute those who seek to steal or dilute the constitutional rights of citizens in the electoral process.”

U.S. Attorney Tarver recognized the efforts of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and particularly GBI Special Agent Eve Rodgers and FBI Special Agent Ed Sutcliff.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

"Limping Bandit" Pleads Guilty to 23 Bank Robberies

United States Attorney William N. Nettles stated today that Cecil Stephen Haire, age 52, of Douglas, Georgia, pled guilty June 7 in federal court in Charleston, to 23 counts of bank robbery. United States District Judge Sol Blatt of Charleston accepted the plea and will impose sentence at a later date after he has reviewed a presentence report.

Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established that Haire traveled across the Southeast committing robberies beginning in June of 2006. The first banks that he robbed were in three small towns in Georgia. Over the next three years, he robbed eight more banks in Florida and Alabama. During that time, he also committed 13 bank robberies throughout South Carolina in Summerville, Orangeburg, Aiken, Sumter, Edgefield, Camden, Charleston, and Mount Pleasant.

His robbing spree came to an end on July 17, 2009. Haire entered the National Bank of South Carolina on Highway 17 North in Mount Pleasant. He handed the teller a brown paper bag, pointed a gun at her and demanded that she put money in the bag. After Haire fled the bank, he was followed by an individual who gave a description of his vehicle to the Mount Pleasant Police Department. Approximately 20 minutes later, the police located Haire sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot of a retirement home. The police found the clothing that he wore in a nearby dumpster, as well as a BB gun pistol that he used to commit the robbery.

While he was still a suspect, Haire acquired the nickname “The Limping Bandit” because many of the bank tellers described a noticeable limp in his walk. After his arrest, the FBI confirmed that Haire’s limp is a result of childhood polio.

In 1986, Haire was convicted in Georgia for seven counts of armed robbery and one count of bank robbery. He was released on parole in 2006.

Mr. Nettles stated the maximum penalty Haire can receive is a fine of $250,000 and/or imprisonment for 25 years for each count.

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney Alston C. Badger of the Charleston office handled the case.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage