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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A judge Wednesday shot down an accused tax cheat&#8217;s claims federal agents illegally seized and studied a notebook that laid out the local dentist&#8217;s defense strategy.</p><p>Charles J. Musto, owner of a dental practice on Wyoming Avenue in Forty Fort, was indicted in April on charges he filed a fraudulent federal income tax return in 2009. A superseding indictment filed in June <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/557320/feds-additional-charges-for-forty-fort-dentist-accused-of-income-tax-fraud" target="_blank">charged Musto with filing a false return in 2010</a>.</p><p>He has pleaded not guilty.</p><p>The latter indictment was returned after authorities executed multiple search warrants at Musto&#8217;s office and his other properties, during which numerous boxes of records and electronic hard drives were seized.</p><p>Among the items taken was a notebook marked &#8220;attorney-client privilege&#8221; that Musto argued was illegally seized. The notebook laid out his defense strategy, among other confidential information, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/596630/forty-fort-dentist-facing-tax-fraud-charges-says-feds-illegally-seized-notebook" target="_blank">according to a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment</a> filed in October.</p><p>In an order Wednesday denying Musto&#8217;s motion, U.S. District Judge James M. Munley said the supervisory agent accused of reviewing the notebook&#8217;s contents immediately removed himself from the team prosecuting Musto and joined a &#8220;taint team,&#8221; a group that reviews seized materials but are otherwise uninvolved in the investigation.</p><p>&#8220;Within seconds of reviewing the notebook&#8217;s contents, (Senior Supervisory Agent Benjamin Wylam) understood he could no longer participate in the investigation,&#8221; the judge wrote. &#8220;Instead, SSA Wylam walled himself off from the investigation, and became a member of the filter team.&#8221;</p><p>Musto failed to demonstrate how Wylam&#8217;s flipping through the notebook prejudiced Musto&#8217;s criminal case, Munley added.</p><p>Munley also denied Musto&#8217;s motion to suppress evidence seized in the warrants, saying Musto failed to establish that authorities lacked probable cause to execute the warrants.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Musto </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_web1_web1_web1_web1_MustoScreennew.jpg</photo0><caption0>Musto </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Judge: Seized notebook doesn’t prejudice accused tax cheat’s case