Prosecutors seek extended probation for Allen man convicted of bid rigging

Three months after he was sentenced in a bid rigging case, a former Allen County auctioneer and real estate broker may be subject to an extension of his probation or jail time.

Mackie Shelton, 70, of Scottsville, was sentenced to three years of probation in March after pleading guilty to bid rigging for actions he and Barry Dyer took during a 2018 real estate auction in Allen County.

Shelton and Dyer were accused of demanding $20,000 payoffs from a pair of potential buyers to stop bidding on 349 acres of farmland and a tract of timber rights for sale by the estate of Lenita Cole, or else Shelton and Dyer would continue bidding up the price.

The buyers paid the money and won the auction, obtaining the land for $492,200 when they were prepared to pay up to $650,400.

The terms of the probation require Shelton and Dyer to each spend 26 weekends in jail and pay a $250,000 fine.

Since being sentenced, however, Shelton has filed a complaint with the Kentucky Bar Association against the attorney representing Cole’s estate in a lawsuit against Shelton and two complaints with the Kentucky Board of Auctioneers against auction staff who provided information supporting the criminal bid rigging charge.

Federal prosecutors contend that these complaints amount to retaliation by Shelton and merit an extension of his probation.

Jariel Rendell, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, filed a motion on July 10 in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green seeking to modify Shelton’s probation.

“Defendant Shelton’s retaliatory misconduct is troubling,” Rendell’s motion said. “At worst, it represents a violation of the conditions of his probation. At best, it shows disrespect for court supervision and the seriousness of his crime.”

Court records show that Shelton filed a state bar association complaint June 8 against attorney Brian Lowder, who represented the Lenita Cole estate in a civil lawsuit against Shelton.

In his complaint, Shelton alleged that he and Dyer were the subjects of “blackmail” by Lowder, who sent a letter in 2018 to Shelton stating that the Cole estate lost $158,200 on the sale but were willing to settle the matter privately if Shelton and Dyer were willing to pay that amount to the estate.

Lowder said in the letter he would pursue “all available remedies, including the immediate filing of our complaint in federal court,” if Shelton and Dyer rejected the settlement offer or did not otherwise respond.

A week after Shelton filed that complaint, the state bar association found that it did not state an ethical violation and declined to investigate.

Rendell argued that complaint constituted retaliation by Shelton.

“He blamed auction staff and (Lowder) for his prosecution,” Rendell said of Shelton in his motion. “And he rehashed his claim that he believed his brazen bid-rigging was nothing more than a ‘legitimate and legal transaction of an assignment of contract.’”

Shelton also filed complaints with the state auctioneers board against James Cook and Barry Claypool, two licensed auctioneers who took part in the 2018 auction of the Cole estate and provided information supporting the bid-rigging charge ahead of Shelton’s sentencing.

Shelton claimed in his complaints that Cook and Claypool should be held responsible for not stopping the sale “when they knew a crime was taking place” and that they should lose their auctioneer licenses.

Rendell argued that the complaints violated federal law that forbids retaliating against witnesses and that the complaint against Cook, who is Cole’s brother, could violate the terms of Shelton’s probation, which forbids him from making contact with the beneficiaries of Cole’s estate and their immediate family.

Rendell has requested the court modify Shelton’s probation so that it mandates he withdraw all complaints, avoid initiating direct or indirect contact with the beneficiaries of Cole’s estate and their family members and subject Shelton to three years of probation starting from the date of a modified judgment.

Shelton’s attorney, David Broderick, argues that federal prosecutors have not put forth enough evidence to support extending Shelton’s probation.

Broderick said that by filing complaints with the state bar association and the state auctioneers board, Shelton was acting within his First Amendment rights of free speech and that both organizations encourage the filing of complaints when someone believes a lawyer or auctioneer has committed an ethics violation.

“Plaintiff has no evidence that (Shelton) filed these complaints with the intent to retaliate, other than pure speculation,” Broderick said in his response, filed Monday.

Broderick asserts that there is no evidence that Cook and Claypool have been harmed by the complaints filed against them and that modifying Shelton’s probation based on his complaints goes against the primary mission of the bar association and auctioneers board of protecting the public.

– Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter @jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.

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