Business owner, former bank officer charged
The former market president of a local bank recently entered a guilty plea in federal court to the charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Alan Childs entered his guilty plea April 16 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in Macon and was released on a $20,000 bond.
Sentencing is scheduled Aug. 6.
Childs was represented by Attorney William H. Thomas Jr. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth S. Howard.
The facts of the case, as agreed upon by Childs, referred to as the defendant, were listed in the plea agreement. The document states during the period of March 1, 2018, through Aug. 30, 2022, Childs served as market president of Morris Bank in Gray. In that position, he had lending authority up to $500,000 per customer relationship.
Ronnie Atkinson, another party charged in the conspiracy, was identified in the document as R.A. It was stated that Atkinson owned a logging company, and his first loan from the bank was in March of 2018. That loan and all of his subsequent loans with Morris Bank were handled by Childs.
The $500,000 loan threshold was reached in June of 2019. Any future loans required higher approval from the Dublin-based bank. At the same time, Atkinson’s loans were downgraded to substandard, which meant they displayed a weakness that could jeopardize collection. Those distinctions meant future approvals would go through the credit administration officer or a member of the credit team.
The document states testimony from bank officials showed beginning in August of 2019 and continuing through May of 2022, Atkinson began having relatives and friends appear as borrowers for loans intended for his benefit.
“Defendant knew that these loans in the other individuals’ names were actually for R.A.,” the agreement states.
As a result, Childs let Atkinson exceed the lending limit without proper approvals. It further states the defendant did not verify information in the straw borrowers’ loan applications.
The plea agreement goes on to state that on March 23, 2021, Childs was emailed by the credit administrative office with inquiries about the fact that Atkinson’s bank relationship was over $500,000, and a March 25, 2021, email from the same officer identified the total of loans tied to Atkinson was $1,620,120.
“The defendant told her that the loans were not all related because they had their own repayment sources and should not be considered the same relationship,” as stated in the document.
Atkinson’s loans were already delinquent in June of 2021, but loans continued being approved. It was stated in the document that bank loan officials became aware of delinquency issues in December of 2021, but Childs continued to approve loans to Atkinson through other borrowers.
“Had the defendant sought approval for the loans, the requests would have been denied.”
Two loans were approved for Atkinson’s benefit Jan. 13, 2022, in the amounts of $114,000 and $297,500. A loan was approved May 24, 2022, in the amount of $131,595, and another June 10, 2022, in the amount of $285,000 all for Atkinson’s benefit. The document states a total of 57 loans were approved by Childs for Atkinson’s benefit, totaling $3 million.
It is important to note that the indictment does not allege that Childs benefited personally from the loans.
The maximum sentence for the offense as listed in the plea agreement is 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million or both. The sentence also includes a term of supervised release of five years.
Documents received from the court included a motion for decrease for acceptance of responsibility filed April 18. That document states Childs assisted authorities in the investigation of his own misconduct, and his guilty plea permitted the government to avoid preparing for trial. The motion recommended additional decreases in the sentencing guidelines.
