Allen County realtors sentenced to $250K fines, jail time in bid rigging case
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Two former Allen County real estate brokers who were indicted in 2021 and pleaded guilty in 2022 for conspiring to rig auction bids at estate auctions in exchange for farmland and timber rights have each been sentenced to $250,000 in fines and to report to jail every weekend for six months.
A federal judge made the sentencing on Thursday.
Barry Dyer and Mackie Shelton and co-conspirators rigged bids during an auction in 2018 in Allen County for a tract of timber rights and hundreds of acres of farmland.
A case with the Allen County Circuit Court is still open against the two Scottsville natives.
Plaintiff Valerie Powell, brought the lawsuit forward about the property.
According to court documents, Powell is the administrator of the estate that was up for bid.
According to court documents, during the course of the auction, Dyer and Shelton “recognized that there was only one competing bidder, namely Chris Shockley who was bidding on behalf of his farm partnership.”
The documents indicate that Dyer approached Shockley and “demanded that Shockley pay $40,000 to the defendants or they would continue bidding on the property.”
Documents indicate that Shockley and his farming partner paid the $40,000 “in order to acquire the property at a reduced price.”
“Shockley and Williams were prepared to pay up to $3,200 per acre for the 147 acre tract and $850 an acre for the additional 212 acres,” according to a court document. “This would have resulted in a total purchase price of $650,400. Instead, the property was purchased for $492,200.”
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