Man allegedly cashed out more than $3M from bank in Gray, Georgia. He’s charged.
A man who allegedly cashed out more than $3 million in loans from Morris Bank in Gray was federally charged Wednesday.
The U.S. government charged Ronnie Atkinson, owner of the timber harvesting company Ronnie Atkinson Logging, LLC, with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He allegedly obtained over $3 million in loans and checks with the help of others, at times using someone else’s identity between 2018 and 2022, according to court documents.
Friends and relatives helped
Per Morris Bank’s policy, the market president for the branch in Gray was only allowed to lend up to $500,000 per customer. If the customer went over the limit, the market president would have to obtain approval from the bank’s senior credit officer. The market president would also have to check the borrower’s financial information, the purpose of the loan, collateral and the ability to repay, according to court records.
Once the loan was approved, Morris Bank would issue a loan check. If the loan was issued to buy an item, the check would be addressed to the seller.
Atkinson began taking out loans with Morris Bank around March 2018, with the stated purpose of buying equipment. But a little over a year later, Atkinson reached the $500,000 loan limit and his loans were graded substandard, meaning there was a “well-defined weakness or weaknesses that could jeopardize collection,” court records show.
Morris Bank policy established that new loans above $50,000 by customers who had a substandard grade required the approval of a credit administration officer or a member of the credit team.
But starting in August 2019 up until May 2022, Atkinson “began having relatives and friends appear as straw borrowers for loans intended for (Atkinson’s) benefit,” and the market president knew about it, court records show.
“(The market president) thus let Atkinson exceed his $500,000 lending limit without the proper approvals by making it appear these loans belonged to a different (person),” the court document states. “(The market president) also did not seek the required approval for (Atkinson’s) loans that were graded substandard.”
Employee’s identity used
When Atkinson intended to take out loans to buy something, he would provide a bill of sale that listed the item, its price and the seller, but “many of these bills of sale were fraudulent,” the court document alleged.
Some bills would list an inflated price for an item; others listed people who didn’t sell anything to Atkinson or anyone associated with him. Morris Bank would have to issue the loans directly to the seller, so often the sellers were instructed to cash the check and provide the funds to Atkinson or one of his relatives, according to the court document.
Atkinson took several of those checks and loans to Kevin’s Check Cashing in Macon and often brought the checks’ listed payee with him for the payee to give Atkinson the money.
Whenever he would cash a check where the purported seller didn’t sell anything, Atkinson “provided a picture of an identification card belonging to the person to whom the check would be made out to in order to cash the check without the person being present,” according to the court document.
The identification Atkinson obtained was from previous or current employees who gave him their licenses.
What sentence is he facing?
Atkinson faces a fine of $1 million and up to a 30-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. His initial appearance is scheduled for May 12 at the federal courthouse in Macon.
