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Judge applies new high court case, dismisses charges against dentist

A Pennington Gap dentist may be the first beneficiary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited what critics had contended was an expansive reading of the federal law on money laundering.

A jury convicted Dr. Roy Shelburne earlier this year of seven counts of money laundering, among other charges, in what the government alleged was a scheme to defraud Medicaid.

Applying U.S. v. Santos, which was handed down by the high court on June 2, U.S. District Judge James P. Jones said payments for rent and dental supplies were not shown to have come from “proceeds” of Medicaid fraud. He also held that Shelburne’s own salary payments did not constitute “promotion” of illegal activity.

Tony Giorno, the U.S. assistant attorney who prosecuted the case, told the Bristol Herald Courier that his team may appeal the decision. He described the Supreme Court ruling on the money laundering statute as a “sea change” in the law. “We knew we would have problems with that.”

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