BY MAC McLEAN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Gina De’Lynn Price could serve up to 65 years in prison for selling sick puppies and passing them off as healthy ones she bred herself.
A federal jury on Monday found Price, the owner of Rebel Ridge Kennels in Blountville, Tenn., guilty of seven fraud charges.
She sold English and French bulldog puppies purchased from Eastern Europe to at least 234 customers across North America, according to an FBI agent who has investigated her business since July 2005 and testified June 30 during her trial.
Special Agent David Bishop said many of the animals suffered from serious health problems, including parvo – an incurable and often fatal disease that attacks a dog’s intestinal lining – and had to be euthanized when they arrived with their new owners.
Price was charged with 10 federal crimes including one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, three counts of Social Security fraud, two counts of income tax fraud and three counts of tampering with a witness.
The jury returned a not-guilty verdict for two of the three witness tampering charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Harr dropped the third witness tampering charge against Price on Thursday.
Harr used 274 exhibits and testimony from 62 witnesses as she presented her case against Price from June 30 to Thursday afternoon.
Price’s attorney, Richard Spivey, presented only one witness, an accountant he said testified about Price’s financial dealings on Friday before he presented his closing argument.
The jury spent two hours discussing Price’s fate Friday afternoon. It continued deliberations for another three-and-a half hours Monday before presenting its verdict at about 2:30 p.m.
“The jury heard the evidence and delivered the verdict,” Spivey said after the trial. He had no other comment about the case but was later heard telling one of Price’s colleagues he “gave it the best shot” that he could.
Harr said Price could serve up to 20 years in prison for both the mail fraud and wire fraud charges. She could serve up to five years in prison for the five income tax and Social Security fraud charges. She will be sentenced on Dec. 8.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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