Nine months after entering his guilty plea, a defendant in a federal bank conspiracy case received a sentence of seven years to serve in prison, according to documents received from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in Macon.
Ronnie Atkinson, 57, was sentenced Feb. 5, to serve a total of 84 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
Atkinson was also ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution. He entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft May 12, 2025. The indictment against Atkinson was unsealed April 30. It stated he was charged with conspiring with a bank officer and others to defraud and obtain money under the control of Morris Bank. It was alleged that 57 loans were issued for Atkinson’s benefit, totaling more than $3 million.
Alan Childs, 60, of Gray, was sentenced Sept. 17 in a related case to serve 12 months and one day in prison. He was also ordered to pay $3 million. Childs pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud April 12. The original sentencing date for both men was Aug. 6.
Childs served as market president for the Gray branch of Morris Bank from March 2018 to August 2022.
U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell presided over Atkinson’s case last week.
Atkinson owned a timber-harvesting business. He obtained his first loan from Morris Bank to purchase equipment in March of 2018. This loan, and all subsequent loans, were handled by Childs. By June 2019, Atkinson reached the maximum $500,000 threshold and began having relatives and friends appear as borrowers for loans intended for his benefit.
In loans involving the purchase of goods, Atkinson included many bills of sale that were fraudulent. The case was investigated by the FBI, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard prosecuted the case for the government.
Atkinson was known to Jones County law enforcement prior to the federal bank fraud conspiracy case. He was arrested in Jones County for a charge of theft by deception as the result of his attempt to defraud a local man. The incident report by Jones County Sheriff Office Capt. Kenny Allen is dated Aug. 16, 2022.
Atkinson gave the owner of a 2015 Mack tractor a check for $50,000 that bounced and then would not give back the truck. He was subsequently arrested and incarcerated in the Jones County jail.
Allen said in the process of his investigation, he discovered the offender had warrants from five counties in Georgia. His investigation ended when he was notified by FBI agents that they were taking over.
