FBI investigation leads to two Bibb County Deputies resigning

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Two Bibb County Deputies resigned after a FBI investigation about sex trafficking showed the two were on a prostitution website known as backpage.com.

Sheriff David Davis said former Deputy Jeffery Cranford’s cellphone number was found in a sex trafficking victim’s phone during a FBI investigation.

This concerned the Sheriff’s Office, so they started an internal affairs investigation.

‘”And through that investigation, it was discovered that another deputy also was engaged in some inappropriate activity on backpage, ” Davis said.

That deputy was Robert Scarborough. He and Cranford were on a prostitution website.

Davis said evidence didn’t show that either man had any physical contact with women on the website, but investigators found something else.

“They did have conversations, there were some text and photographs that were exchanged, so in those instances that is, you know, a violation of our policies here at the Sheriff’s Office to be involved in that type of activity,” David said.

He said the men did not help the women get out of their situations.

“Here you are engaged in conversations with these individuals in an effort to go on a date with them or have some type of relationship when we view these individuals as victims, so you want to try and get them out of that lifestyle and save them from that line of work, but they didn’t take any effort to do those things,” Davis said.

He said the two deputies resigned when the Chief Deputy was making his decision on what policy violations the men made.

If you’re concerned that you can’t trust the Sheriff’s Office because of this situation, Davis said you can.

“Well in situations like this, I think that solidifies the trust. People can trust that we’re going to fair it out, anybody here that is doing wrong,” he said.

So if you know something about any Bibb County officer, Davis said feel free to speak up.