According to TMZ, "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star Stevie J just learned a hard lesson about being a baby daddy ... you rack up a million-dollar child support debt and you go directly to jail.

Here's what landed Stevie J behind bars.  He and his live-in GF had a kid in '97 and '98.  In '99 Stevie was ordered to pay around $6,600 a month in child support, which eventually was raised to $8500K.

According to the criminal complaint, Stevie J stopped paying in 2001 -- he's never paid a cent since then.  So now the tab is a whopping $1,107,412.

Cops nabbed Stevie J in Georgia (check out the video).  He'll probably bail out soon but then has to face criminal charges in NYC.

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