A Georgia mayor indicted for allegedly trying to give inmates alcohol has been suspended

THOMSON, Ga. — The mayor of a small Georgia town has been suspended after he was indicted over allegations that he illegally left a bottle of gin in a ditch for a state prison work crew. A Georgia mayor indicted for allegedly trying to give inmates alcohol has been suspended Thomson Mayor Benjamin “Benji” Cary Cranford, 52, was suspended Friday by Gov. The August indictment in McDuffie County Superior Court says Cranford drove to a store June 3, bought a bottle of Seagram's Extra Dry Gin and left it in a ditch along Georgia 150 in Thomson in the path of a work crew from the Jefferson County Correctional Institution. Three days later Thomson police asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the claim that Cranford gave alcohol to inmates, the GBI has said.