A former top executive who orchestrated a massive fraud that contributed to a North Georgia bank's collapse was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay almost $6 million in restitution.
Senior U.S. District Judge William O'Kelley in Gainesville sentenced Randy Jones, the former chief loan officer of Community Bank & Trust, below the 12 years and seven months in prison requested by prosecutors but well above the two years sought by his attorneys.
“Mr. Jones was a very senior officer of this bank, which is an aggravating factor,” O’Kelley said. “Considering all the facts and other sentences imposed in similar cases, I find it to be reasonable given the circumstances.”
Jones, whose guilty plea was postponed in December when he tried to commit suicide with a chain saw, was immediately taken into custody. O'Kelley said he felt uneasy about reports Jones still suffers from depression.
Beginning in 2005, Jones, 50, took kickbacks for phony land deals and issued fraudulent loans, bringing three businessmen into the scheme. Jones used the proceeds to start up six Zaxby's restaurants and spend $150,000 on jewelry for his wife.
"This case is just about greed," Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Phillips said.
Founded in 1900, Community Bank -- one of the first to open branches inside grocery stores -- was shut down in January 2010. The Cornelia bank was one of 61 Georgia banks to fail since mid-2008. It cost the FDIC's insurance fund an estimated $336.1 million.
O'Kelley imposed lesser sentences on the other three men involved.
O'Kelley initially sentenced store owner and developer Joey Penick, 51, to 30 months in prison. But O'Kelley suddenly changed his mind and cut it to two years, saying Penick should get credit for his good works. A pastor testified Penick mowed lawns for the elderly and quietly took care of unpaid utility bills for fellow church members.
Douglas Emig, 55, who runs a concrete company and had twice hit lottery jackpots, received three years. Real estate developer Berrong Moulton, 46, got two and a half years. The three men must each pay more than $2 million in restitution.
Prosecutors previously obtained other convictions in cases involving the failures of Integrity Bank and Omni National Bank.
Staff writer J. Scott Trubey contributed to this article.
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