Month: July 2022

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Defendant fraudulently obtained approximately $1.2 million in pandemic relief funds

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Miami, Florida – Mark Grenon, 64, made his initial appearance today in federal court in Miami, Florida, after being extradited from Colombia.  Grenon is charged—along with his three sons, Jonathan Grenon, 36, Jordan Grenon, 28, and Joseph Grenon, 34—with fraudulently marketing and selling “Miracle Mineral Solution,” a toxic industrial bleach, as a cure for COVID-19, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson’s, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and other serious medical conditions, and with defying federal court orders. 

According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury, the Grenons, all of Bradenton, Florida, manufactured, promoted, and sold a product they named Miracle Mineral Solution (“MMS”).  MMS is a chemical solution containing sodium chlorite and water which, when ingested orally, became chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleach typically used for industrial water treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp, and paper. The Grenons claimed that ingesting MMS could treat, prevent, and cure COVID-19, according to the charges.  The FDA, however, had not approved MMS for treatment of COVID-19, or for any other use.  Rather, in prior official warning statements, the FDA had strongly urged consumers not to purchase or use MMS for any reason, explaining that drinking MMS was the same as drinking bleach and could cause dangerous side effects, including severe vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure.  See https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/danger-dont-drink-miracle-mineral-solution-or-similar-products.  In fact, FDA received reports of people requiring hospitalizations, developing life-threatening conditions, and even dying after drinking MMS.

The indictment further alleges that before marketing MMS as a cure for COVID-19, the Grenons marketed MMS as a miracle cure-all for dozens of other serious diseases and disorders, even though the FDA had not approved MMS for any use.  The Grenons sold tens of thousands of bottles of MMS nationwide, including to consumers throughout South Florida, according to the allegations.  They sold this dangerous product under the guise of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing (“Genesis”), an entity they are accused of creating to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution.  According to charging documents, Genesis’ own websites describe Genesis as a “non-religious church,” and Defendant Mark Grenon, the co-founder of Genesis, has repeatedly acknowledged that Genesis “has nothing to do with religion,” and that he founded Genesis to “legalize the use of MMS” and avoid “going [ ] to jail.”  The Genesis websites further stated that MMS could be acquired only through a “donation” to Genesis, but the donation amounts for MMS orders were set at specific dollar amounts, and were mandatory, such that the donation amounts were effectively just sales prices.  The indictment alleges that the Grenons received more than $1 million from selling MMS.

The indictment also charges the Grenons with criminal contempt.  The United States previously filed a civil case against the defendants and Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. See United States v. Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, et al., Case No. 20-21601-CV-WILLIAMS.  In that civil case, the United States obtained court orders halting the Grenons’ distribution of MMS. According to charging documents, the Grenons willfully violated those court orders and continued to distribute MMS.  The Grenons also allegedly threatened the federal judge presiding over the civil case, and threatened that, should the government attempt to enforce the court orders halting their distribution of MMS, the Grenons would “pick up guns” and instigate “a Waco.”

Furthermore, according to statements made in court by federal prosecutors in Miami, a search warrant was executed for Defendant Jonathan Grenon’s house at the time of his arrest, and officers discovered that the Grenons were manufacturing MMS in a shed in Jonathan Grenon’s backyard in Bradenton, Florida.  Officers seized dozens of blue chemical drums containing nearly 10,000 pounds of sodium chlorite powder, thousands of bottles of MMS, and other items used in the manufacture and distribution of MMS.  The government also recovered multiple loaded firearms, including one pump-action shotgun concealed in a custom-made violin case to disguise its appearance, according to prosecutors.

Trial is set to begin on September 12, in Miami, Florida, before Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Juan Antonio Gonzalez and Assistant Commissioner of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations Catherine Hermsen made the announcement.  

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael B. Homer and John Shipley of the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.  FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations investigated the case.

U.S. Attorney Gonzalez commends and thanks the government of Colombia for its assistance.  U.S. Attorney Gonzalez also extends his gratitude to the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) Judicial Attachés in Bogota, Colombia for their substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Mark Grenon to the United States.  

An indictment is a charging instrument containing allegations.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20242.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Georgia man was sentenced to prison for participating in a scheme that defrauded the Medicaid programs in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia of more than $5 million, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Glenn Pair, 36, of Stonecrest, Georgia to 70 months in prison and two years of supervised release and ordered the defendant to pay a total of $5,078,444 as restitution.

U.S. Attorney King is joined in making today’s announcement by Adair Ford Boroughs, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, Ryan K. Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina, and Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Charlotte Field Office (IRS-CI).

The criminal charges filed against Pair in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia and South Carolina were transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in September and October 2021, respectively. In October 2021, Pair pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit Medicaid fraud in connection with the three federal prosecutions. Pair also pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy offense in the Western District of North Carolina. Today’s sentence resolves all three federal criminal actions against the defendant.

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, Pair and his co-conspirator, Markuetric Stringfellow, owned and operated an after-school and youth mentoring program known as Do-It-4-The Hood Corporation (D4H). From January 2016 through November 2018, Pair and Stringfellow paid individuals to recruit at-risk youths, in particular children who were Medicaid eligible in North Carolina, for their D4H program. Once enrolled, children were required to submit urine specimens for drug testing. Pair and Stringfellow conspired with certain laboratories to perform the drug testing of the enrolled children’s urine specimens and received kickbacks once the laboratories were reimbursed by the North Carolina Medicaid. In 2017, Pair moved to Georgia, and he and Stringfellow expanded the fraudulent scheme to defraud the state’s Medicaid program.

The South Carolina scheme involved Wrights Care Services LLC (Wrights Care), a qualified provider of Medicaid rehabilitative behavioral health services in South Carolina.  Pair and Stringfellow became owners of a Wrights Care franchise in Columbia, South Carolina.  Starting in or around 2014, Pair and Stringfellow defrauded the South Carolina Medicaid program by filing fraudulent claims for mental health counseling or other services that were either not provided, partially provided, or did not qualify for Medicaid reimbursement. Pair and Stringfellow submitted falsified patient billing records and fake medical notes to support the fraudulent reimbursement claims filed. After learning there was a Medicaid audit for Wrights Care, Stringfellow attempted to deceive South Carolina Medicaid auditors. In or about March 2015, Stringfellow met other associates of Wrights Care in Columbia for a “note party.” During this gathering and in Pair’s presence, the co-conspirators created false and fraudulent billing records to substantiate previously-submitted fraudulent Medicaid claims, forged signatures, and falsified records subject to the audit, which they then submitted to South Carolina Medicaid auditors in response to the audit.

Over the course of the scheme, Pair, Stringfellow and their co-conspirators submitted thousands of fraudulent claims to Medicaid of the three states totaling over $17 million and received over $5 million in fraudulent reimbursements. In addition, they received $1.8 million in kickbacks from the laboratories that participated in the conspiracy.

Pair is currently released on bond. He will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Stringfellow was sentenced in February 2021 to 78 months in prison and was ordered pay $5,278,550 in restitution for his role in the scheme.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney King thanked the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in South Carolina and the Northern District of Georgia, the FBI in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and the Medicaid Investigations Division in the three states for their investigative efforts and coordination throughout case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael E. Savage and Graham Billings of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, prosecuted the case, assisted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jermaine Sellers with the Medicaid Fraud Investigation Division of the N.C.

Also assisting in the prosecution of this case was Assistant United States Attorney Brook B. Andrews from the Columbia, South Carolina office.

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Source: United States Department of Justice News

Authorities arrested former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Aaron Mitchell, 27, of Miami Gardens, Florida, who was charged with kidnapping a minor, announced Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Gary M. Restaino for the District of Arizona and Acting Special Agent in Charge Chris Ormerod for the FBI Phoenix Field Division.   

A federal grand jury in the District of Arizona returned the indictment charging Mitchell with a single count of kidnapping. According to the indictment, on April 25, in Arizona, Mitchell kidnapped and then held the victim, who was under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offense. In the commission and in furtherance of the offense, Mitchell transported the victim in interstate and foreign commerce and the defendant traveled in interstate commerce and used a means, facility and instrumentality of interstate commerce. 

If convicted, Mitchell faces a maximum of life imprisonment, a minimum of 20 years imprisonment, a minimum of five years and up to lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

This case is being investigated by the FBI Sierra Vista resident agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carin Duryee for the District of Arizona and Trial Attorney Angie Cha of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

If you have information related to this matter, please call the FBI Phoenix, 623-466-1999 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. 

An indictment is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Miami, Florida – Today, a federal district judge in Miami sentenced 42-year-old Palacio Valdes Farley to over 14 years in prison for conspiring to traffic marijuana, eutylone, and MDMA, as well as conspiring to launder proceeds of the illegal drug activity.

As part of his guilty plea to the charges earlier this year, Farley admitted that from about 2016 to 2019, he organized and led a six-member South Florida drug-trafficking organization (“DTO”).  The DTO obtained marijuana from co-conspirators in California, and MDMA from a South Florida co-conspirator, then distributed the drugs in Florida.  Farley also admitted that on August 3, 2019, while he was serving a prison sentence at Jackson Correctional Institute in Jackson County, Florida, another member of the DTO was arrested while attempting to smuggle marijuana, eutylone, and MDMA into the prison.  The plan was for Farley to distribute the drugs to inmates.  As to money laundering, Farley admitted that he conspired with members of the DTO and others to conduct financial transactions intended to disguise the origins of the drug trafficking proceeds.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John J. Bernardo, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced the sentence that U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams imposed today. 

Other defendants in this case have received the following federal prison sentences: Pedro Ceballos Jaime received 120 months; Karen Xiomara Williams received 62 months; Lisa Flood received 44 months; Willie Hudson received 15 months; Robert Benton received 15 months; Denzel Wilson received 16 months; Shanequa Samuels received 24 months; and Emmanuel White received 27 months.  Defendant Stephen Keane is set for sentencing on August 12, at 10:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Williams.  

The FBI investigated this case, with assistance from Florida Department of Corrections, Office of Inspector General; Broward Sheriff’s Office; Fort Lauderdale Police Department; Lauderhill Police Department; and United States Secret Service.  Assistant United States Attorneys Dwayne E. Williams and Dayron Silverio are prosecuting the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Annika Miranda is handling asset forfeiture.

This prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and other priority transnational criminal organizations that threaten the citizens of the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence driven, multi-agency approach to combat transnational organized crime.  The OCDETF program facilitates complex, joint operations by focusing its partner agencies on priority targets, by managing and coordinating multi-agency efforts, and by leveraging intelligence across multiple investigative platforms.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-20667-Williams.

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