A Florida father and his three adult sons have been found guilty on all counts after falsely claiming a toxic, industrial-strength bleaching agent they sold as a “miracle” solution through their fake church could cure HIV, autism, cancer, COVID-19, and other serious illnesses.
On Wednesday, a Miami jury took just 30 minutes to return the guilty verdicts for the so-called “Church of Bleach” family, according to the Miami Herald. The trial began on Monday.
The 12-person jury found Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons Jonathan, 37, Joseph, 35, and Jordan, 29, all guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States by distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug. The drug in question is the “Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS),” which is consumed as chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching agent used for bleaching paper products. The conviction carries up to five years in prison.
Additionally, Jordan and Jonathan Grenon were found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt for violating federal court orders to stop selling MMS in 2020. That conviction carries a maximum of life in prison.
Similar contempt charges were dropped for Mark and his remaining son Joseph, who fled to Colombia in 2020 after the charges were filed against them. According to the Herald, the charges were dropped in 2022 as part of an extradition deal, which said they would only be charged with the count of conspiracy to defraud.
During the trial, federal prosecutors described the family as “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen” who tried to skirt federal laws by selling their dangerous MMS product through a non-religious “church” called the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, based in Bradenton, Florida. They called themselves “bishops” and sold MMS as a “sacrament” in exchange for a “donation” to the church. All the while, the family claimed their toxic solution could treat a variety of serious conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson’s, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19, according to the indictment.
In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration warned the public of MMS, saying that it had received reports of people suffering life-threatening conditions after drinking the poisonous liquid. In 2020, the agency finally got court orders to force them to stop selling MMS, though the family ignored the orders prior to their arrests.
Prosecutors claimed that the family made more than $1 million from selling tens of thousands of bottles of MMS, which they began doing in 2010.
In closing arguments at this week’s trial, federal prosecutor John Shipley argued to the jury that “you cannot go out and create a fake church and violate the law.”
Likewise, US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga told jurors on Wednesday that the Grenons could not use the First Amendment, specifically religious freedom, as a defense for selling MMS because their church was not an actual religious entity. As Ars previously reported, Genesis’ now-defunct website called their organization “a non-religious church” that “was formed for the purpose of serving mankind and not for the purpose of worship.”
The Grenons represented themselves for their brief trial this week but did not speak during the proceedings, seemingly in a form of protest. Only after the guilty verdict was read did one of the Grenons speak—Joseph, who said, “We will be appealing.”
Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 6.
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955632