FRANKFORT, Ky. — Attorney General Jack Conway recently announced another indictment against former Bell County Dentist Craig Ralston. The indictment lists five counts of jury tampering, each a Class D felony. The Bell County grand jury handed down the indictment on Wednesday, June 17.

In February, Ralston was on trial in Bell County Circuit Court for charges of defrauding the Kentucky Medicaid Assistance Program. Ralston’s indictment, stemming from 2004, charges that Ralston fraudulently billed and accepted payments from the Kentucky Medicaid Program for tooth extractions that he did not perform between March 1, 1988 and September 30, 2004.

The original indictment also alleges that Ralston was trafficking in controlled substances by unlawfully providing patients with prescriptions when there was no medical need for the drugs. During a break in the proceedings, Ralston allegedly attempted to influence some of the jurors in that case by making comments to them outside of the courtroom. Because of his actions, a mistrial was ordered and Ralston was held in contempt of court and taken into custody.

Investigators from the Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control Division handled the investigation of both cases and prosecutors from the same division are handling the prosecution now.

A new trial date in the Medicaid Fraud case is set for August 11 in Bell County Circuit Court. No date has been set yet for arraignment in the jury tampering case.

An indictment is an accusation only. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Sarah Miracle is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. She may be contacted via e-mail at smiracle@middlesborodailynews.com.