Mark Grenon, 62, and his sons Jonathan, Jordan and Joseph from Florida have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and criminal contempt in a federal criminal complaint filed last month.
On the evening of August 11, Colombia’s top prosecutor announced Mark and Joseph had been arrested by Colombian authorities in the beach town of Santa Marta, and will now face extradition to the US as a result of the charges.
Grenon and 32-year-old Joseph are accused of shipping their ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’ (MMS), which is made of chlorine dioxide, from Colombia to clients in the US, Colombia, and Africa. The prosecutor claimed seven Americans had died from drinking the substance.
The 62-year-old is a self-proclaimed ‘archbishop’ of a ‘church’ in Florida known as the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing. Prosecutors have said the ‘church’ was a bogus religious entity created in an attempt to avoid government regulations.
The Grenons claimed that when ingested as a solution MMS can cure almost all illnesses, including COVID-19, cancer and HIV/Aids, as well as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and autism.
The Grenon family is accused of selling the product even before the outbreak of coronavirus, and prosecutors believe they have sold tens of thousands of bottles across the United States.
CBS Miami reported that on the day of arrest, hazmat teams raided the ‘church’ and found 50 gallons of muriatic acid, 22 gallons of the finished solution, and 8,300 pounds of sodium chlorite.
The Guardian reported that Mark had written to President Donald Trump about MMS in April, encouraging him to embrace the product amid the coronavirus pandemic and claiming MMS ‘can rid the body of COVID-19’.
In the same month, a Miami federal judge ordered Genesis II Church of Health and Healing to stop selling MMS, but the Grenons allegedly ignored the decision.
“We will NOT be participating in any of your UNCONSTITUTIONAL Orders, Summons, etc. Again and again I have written you all that… you have NO authority over our Church,” Mark Grenon said in an email to US District Judge Kathleen Williams, cited by the New York Post.
FDA has previously issued a warning against MMS, telling Americans that ‘if you are drinking MMS or other sodium chlorite products, stop now’.
“The FDA has received many reports that these products, sold online as ‘treatments’, have made consumers sick,” FDA stated.
If convicted of all charges, the Grenons will face a maximum of between 14 and more than 17 years in prison.