BRADENTON, Fla. — Four members of a Bradenton family behind a "church" that sold toxic industrial bleach as a miracle medical cure for COVID-19 were found guilty on federal charges Wednesday in Miami.
The federal jury found Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons, 37-year-old Jonathan, 35-year-old Joseph and 29-year-old Jordan, guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States and deliver misbranded drugs, according to court records. That charge carries up to five years in prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
The Grenons represented themselves but declined to speak during the two-day trial, the Miami Herald reported. After the jury delivered its verdict, Joseph Grenon said they would be appealing.
Prosecutors called the Grenons “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen” and said the family's Genesis II Church of Health and Healing sold $1 million worth of their so-called "Miracle Mineral Solution." The Grenons claimed the solution was a cure for COVID-19, cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, malaria and more.
What the Grenons were selling was actually chlorine dioxide, officials said. When ingested, the solution becomes a bleach that is typically used for such things as treating textiles, industrial water, pulp and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Authorities said it is the same as drinking bleach and can be fatal.
A Miami federal judge ordered the church to stop selling the substance in 2020 when false information about the spread and treatment of COVID-19 was rampant across the internet, but the order was ignored.
Months later Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were arrested in Bradenton. Mark and Joseph Grenon fled to Colombia, where they were arrested and extradited back to the U.S.
Besides the fraud convictions, Jonathan and Jordan Grenon were also convicted of violating federal court orders requiring them to stop selling Miracle Mineral Solution in 2020. U.S. authorities agreed to drop those same contempt charges against Mark and Joseph Grenon as a condition of their extradition from Colombia.
Charging documents described Genesis as a non-religious church that was likely created for the Grenons to avoid government regulation.
10 Tampa Bay's Andrea Chu contributed to this report.