This certainly ticks Newsfeed off. (via Kansas City Star)
California man Robert W. Bradford recently pleaded guilty in Kansas City to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and to introduce “misbranded” drugs into interstate commerce, reports the Kansas City Star.
Turns out that Bradford, along with three co-conspirators, apparently made more than $400,000 selling a microscope via mail order that they claimed could diagnose Lyme disease, a bacterial illness contracted from tick bites. They even reportedly claimed to have a treatment plan to cure the disease, which can cause flu-like symptoms and could develop into abnormalities in the joints, heart and nervous system.
Hard enough as it is to believe, the 79-year-old defendant and his cohorts thought they could get away with the scam, that is until their product caused one person to go into a coma and die and caused renal failure in another. After the tragedies came to light, authorities discovered that Bradford’s company, American Biologics, was not registered with the FDA to produce drugs or medical devices.
Bradford’s co-defendant John Toth is already serving a 32-month prison sentence for reckless involuntary manslaughter, and Bradford is to be sentenced Dec. 14.