A man in Utah was arrested after reportedly acting as a doctor and peddling a phony cure for Covid-19 for at least $2 million. He escaped arrest for nearly three years.
Gordon Hunter Pedersen, 63, of Cedar Hills, Utah, was arrested last week on Wednesday after being charged in 2020 with seven felonies, including mail and wire fraud and distributing misbranded pharmaceuticals with intent to defraud and mislead, according to the state’s US attorney’s office.
According to prosecution documents, he reportedly marketed “structural alkaline silver” online and claimed that the medicine “resonates or vibrates at a frequency that destroys the membrane of the (COVID-19) virus, making the virus incapable” of infecting humans.
According to the report, he presented himself to his customers as an “anti-aging medical doctor” with PhDs in immunology and naturopathic medicine.
When Mr. Padersen failed to appear in court for the indictment, a warrant was issued for his arrest, resulting in a three-year manhunt.
The arrest comes about a month after he was seen on surveillance camera footage at a gasoline station about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Padersen pushed his bogus remedy via YouTube videos, Facebook postings, podcasts, and websites while dressed in a white lab coat with the initials “Dr.” monogrammed on it.
“There is no drug that man has made that can do the same,” he stated in a March 2020 podcast interview.
“If you have the silver in you when the virus arrives, the silver can isolate and eliminate the virus,” he added.
He claimed that his silver product can eliminate the Covid-19 infection
In an interview with federal officials, he claimed that his silver product could eliminate the COVID-19 infection, but he admitted that his qualifications were inflated.
Since 2014, he has been advocating for a cure for ailments such as arthritis, diabetes, and pneumonia.
According to court papers, he made nearly $2 million in sales from the company he co-owned, My Doctor Suggests, between January and April 2020.
Utah district court issues restraining order
The US District Court for the District of Utah issued a restraining order against Mr. Pedersen, preventing him from selling the items as cure-alls, according to the Justice Department at the time.
According to prosecutors, Pedersen was identified by a Food and Drug Administration special agent on July 5 while he was in a vehicle registered under his wife’s name, Julia Currey.
According to authorities, the agent trailed the vehicle to a gas station, where Mr. Pedersen was filmed on a security camera.
His indictment was part of a task force established in 2021 by Attorney General Merric Garland to punish businesses and entities that attempted to “profit unlawfully from the pandemic.”
His lawyer has not responded to the news.
