Two Allen County realtors plead guilty for auction bid rigging

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Two Allen County realtors who were indicted last year for conspiring to rig auction bids at estate auctions in exchange for farmland and timber rights have pleaded guilty.

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.

Dyer and Shelton filed a plea agreement today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

In a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, in the plea agreement, Dyer and Shelton pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to rig bids at a 2018 auction for hundreds of acres of farmland and a tract of timber rights.

Dyer and Shelton demanded and accepted a $40,000 payoff from competing auction participants to stop bidding, artificially suppressing the sales price of the farmland.

They were both charged with a single-count violation of the Sherman Act that carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. A federal district court judge will determine the defendants’ sentences.

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