New Athens man gets prison time for defrauding bank of $3 million

A 57-year-old New Athens man has been sentenced to 2 1/2  years in prison for defrauding a Missouri bank of nearly $3 million by lying on a small business loan application.

While pleading guilty in August, Roger Allen Strong Jr. admitted he lied on an application to obtain a $2.99 million small-business loan from First Midwest Bank of the Ozarks in Scott County, Missouri, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Court of Missouri.

He told bankers he was establishing a company to manufacture locks and operate the business — including about $500,000 for construction, according to officials.

However, the release said, Strong used more than $750,000 of that loan to pay off existing debts not related to the lock company. That was specifically prohibited in the loan agreement.

In addition to his prison sentence, Strong was ordered to pay the entire loan amount back to the bank.

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "New Athens man gets prison time for defrauding bank of $3 million."