Man sentenced for cashing out $3M in fraudulent loans from Middle GA bank
A man who cashed millions of dollars in loans from a Gray bank was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay back the money.
Ronnie Atkinson faced Judge Marc Treadwell on Thursday morning, roughly nine months after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
The market president, Alan Childs, also was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. The bank had established limits on how many loans a person could take out, and Childs allowed Atkinson to go over that amount. Childs also suggested Atkinson should bring in other people to take out loans for him, court records show.
Childs was ordered to serve one year and one day in prison in September 2025.
The case against Atkinson involved taking more than $3 million in loans from Morris Bank in Gray.
Faith Mote, Atkinson’s public defender, said the scheme wouldn’t have been possible without Childs, who allowed Atkinson to obtain the loans.
In exchange for admitting responsibility in the fraud scheme, Atkinson went “above and beyond” for the government by helping them build a case against Childs, Mote said, as well as conducting “controlled buys” of illicit drugs to get them off Georgia streets.
Atkinson was sentenced to seven years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release — a sentence far below the recommended guideline, according to Georgia law. Childs’ assistance to the government factored into the sentence, Treadwell said.
He also must pay back the $3 million.
How the scheme worked
Atkinson — who owned Ronnie Atkinson, LLC, a timber-harvesting company — took out the loans between 2018 and 2022. The loans were meant to buy equipment, but he eventually exceeded the $500,000 loan limit.
If an applicant wanted to obtain more loans despite surpassing the limit, the market president would need to obtain approval from the bank’s senior credit officer as well as evaluate the customer’s financial information, the purpose of the loan, collateral and ability to repay. A credit administration officer also would need to approve the loan, court records showed.
But Atkinson brought in friends and relatives to appear as borrowers while taking out the loans for his benefit, court records showed. Despite knowing Atkinson would receive the loans, Childs let him obtain the funds without seeking approval.
Atkinson also admitted to providing fraudulent bills of sale and inflating the prices of equipment for which he was seeking loans.
Since Morris Bank issued loans in checks addresses directly to the seller, Atkinson instructed the sellers to provide him with the checks so he could cash them out at Kevin’s Check Cashing in Macon.
In cases where no goods were sold, Atkinson would then provide “a picture of an identification card belonging to the person whom the check would be made out to, to cash the check without the person being present,” according to the indictment. The identification belonged to previous or current employees who gave him their licenses.
