County of marker: Carroll County
Location of marker: W. Montgomery St., 2nd store front W. of Candler St., Villa Rica
"NONE — A former Carroll County bank president was sentenced to six years in federal prison Friday for a scheme in which the banker received kickbacks for fraudulent loans.
"S. Pope Cleghorn Jr., 39, the former president and chief executive of Hometown Bank of Villa Rica, also must pay more than $2.4 million in restitution.
"Cleghorn pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud in September.
'“For years, the defendant took extraordinary efforts to cover up his fraud with phony documents and lies, but with today’s prison sentence, he has now been brought to justice,” United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.
"A borrower, identified as Russell T. Long, 53, of Destin, Fla., paid more than $130,000 in kickbacks to Cleghorn for a $1 million loan for a real estate development in Alabama, and a $1.8 million loan for Long to build a house in Florida, prosecutors said.
"Cleghorn had Long submit phony documents to draw cash from the Alabama project loan, which Long actually used to pay down other loans at the bank. Cleghorn also used some of the funds from that loan to pay off debts.
"The loans were made without approval of the bank’s loan committee. Cleghorn directed the falsification of loan committee meeting minutes, prosecutors said, to indicate loans had been approved even though they hadn’t.
"Prosecutors also said Cleghorn doctored documents and lied to bank examiners from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a bank regulator and the government entity that insures bank deposits.
"Cleghorn was ordered to serve 5 years of supervised release and perform 80 hours of community service after he leaves prison.
"Long previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with Cleghorn, and is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 15.
"Hometown Bank and its parent company, GB&T Bancshares, were acquired by Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks in a deal finalized in 2008. The restitution will be paid to SunTrust." ~ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, By J. Scott Trubey, Nov. 18, 2011