A judge found that a former auctioneer convicted of bid rigging violated his probation and ordered him to return to court for a new sentencing hearing.

Mackie Shelton, 70, of Scottsville, pleaded guilty earlier this year along with Barry Dyer to bid rigging for their actions during a 2018 real estate auction in Allen County.

Federal prosecutors said both men were bidding against two other people for 349 acres of farmland and a tract of timber rights that belonged to the estate of Lenita Cole and demanded $20,000 payoffs from them to stop the bidding or else they would continue bidding up the price.

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

Shelton and Dyer were placed on probation for three years, ordered to spend 26 weekends in jail and fined $250,000 fines, but Shelton found himself back before a judge after federal prosecutors claimed that he violated the terms of his probation by filing letters of complaint with the Kentucky Board of Auctioneers and the Kentucky Real Estate Commission against James Cook and Barry Claypool, who took part in the 2018 auction.

Ahead of Shelton’s sentencing in March, Cook and Claypool submitted letters to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers describing what they witnessed at the sale, recalling that they informed Shelton that what he was doing at the auction was illegal.

Shelton filed his complaints in June, saying the letters Cook and Claypool submitted to the judge were his reason for complaining to the state auctioneers board and the real estate commission.

Shelton requested both agencies suspend the licenses of Cook and Claypool, arguing they were just as wrong for allowing the sale to proceed despite receiving advice that it was illegal and questioning their truthfulness in the letters they submitted to Stivers.

At a hearing Thursday in federal court, federal prosecutors said Shelton’s complaints amounted to retaliation against witnesses in Shelton’s criminal case, targeting the agencies responsible for licensing Cook and Claypool.

“We are concerned he might continue to harass witnesses involved in this case with this type of conduct,” said Alison Friberg, trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “(Shelton) does not fully appreciate the seriousness of the crime and has not demonstrated genuine rehabilitation.”

Friberg said Cook and Clayton have already paid $2,000 in attorney fees in responding to the complaints.

Shelton’s attorney, David Broderick, argued that Shelton’s complaints were constitutionally protected speech and that the Shelton was following proper procedure by filing them.

“I think he had a right to (file the complaints) as any citizen of the commonwealth has that right,” Broderick said. “These commissions invite people to make complaints if they believe there’s a complaint to be made … (Shelton) believes it was complaint he had a right to bring.”

In ruling Shelton violated his probation, Stivers found the complaints he filed were “blatant retaliation.”

“I believe it’s akin to a bank robber blaming the bank teller for handing over the money,” Stivers said of Shelton’s complaints.

Shelton was ordered to return to court Aug. 23 for a resentencing hearing.

Federal prosecutors have sought a modification of Shelton’s probation that would require him to withdraw his complaints, forbid him from any contact with the beneficiaries of the Lenita Cole estate or its immediate family members and begin a new three-year probationary period.