Man convicted of racketeering in defrauding church

A man convicted of racketeering and violations of Georgia securities law has been sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years probation.

Darryl Hicks was convicted Thursday of bilking a DeKalb County church and other investors out of $450,000.

The county district attorney's office said that beginning in 2000, Hicks got clients such as All Baptist Church to invest in his fraudulent "high yield" or "prime bank" investment scheme. Prosecutors said the money has not been recovered.

Hicks disappeared in late 2001 and was initially indicted by a DeKalb grand jury in April 2005. He was arrested in Chicago in August 2007.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com