Four members of the infamous “Church of Bleach”—a father and his three adult sons—are facing fraud and contempt charges in Florida in connection to selling industrial bleach as a “miracle cure-all.”

Mark Grenon, 62, and his sons, Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32, all from Bradenton, Florida, were charged Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors in Miami allege that the men have been selling their industrial bleach product—called “Miracle Mineral Solution” or MMS—as a treatment for COVID-19 and other conditions. The prosecutors say the men willfully violated a federal order made in April that they stop selling and distributing the product. The family also allegedly sent letters threatening violence to the federal judge who issued the order and warned that they may stage “a Waco.”

All along, a special agent with the Food and Drug Administration made undercover purchases of their MMS and exchanged emails with the men, according to an affidavit. In some of those emails, one of the defendants advised the agent on how many drops of bleach per hour the agent’s (fictional) wife should drink to treat her bladder cancer.

After a federal judge ordered them to stop selling the bleach, the men allegedly moved their online orders to email and required customers to fill out a survey, asking customers if they worked for the government or “fake news.”

All in all, the men allegedly made around $500,000 in the last year alone from selling industrial bleach as a medical treatment. They averaged about $32,000 a month. But when they began touting the bleach as a cure for COVID-19 in March of this year, they made $123,000—about a 400-percent increase in sales.

Phony faith

The four are members of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, which is notorious for promoting MMS. In fact, according to the affidavit, the church was formed explicitly to skirt the law and sell its bleach product as sacrament.

Genesis was co-founded in 2010 by Mark Grenon, the father of the three other defendants, and Jim Humble, who is referred to in the criminal complaint as “Co-Conspirator 1.” In a February 2020 interview, when Mark Grenon was asked why he formed the church, he responded: “Because everything you do commercially is under the Universal Commercial code, OK? A church is completely separate from that code, statutes, and laws. That’s why a priest can give a kid wine in church publicly and not get arrested. Because it’s a sacrament… You can’t arrest us from doing one of our sacraments, and I knew this. So that’s why… I said let’s do a church.”

The affidavit notes that Genesis’ own website says it’s a “non-religious church,” and Mark Grenon, who calls himself an archbishop, has acknowledged that the church “has nothing to do with religion.”

Still, the church persuades customers to put their faith in the supposed healing powers of MMS. The solution is sold in two components: a solution of sodium chlorite and an “acidic activator.” When combined, they form chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching agent used for stripping textiles, pulp, and paper.

Genesis claims MMS can cure a variety of serious diseases and disorders, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, autism, malaria, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS—and, most recently, COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

A higher power

Federal regulators have been after the church since it was formed back in 2010 and have warned consumers that MMS poses life-threatening risks. Media investigations have also tracked down co-founder Jim Humble several times over the years. A 2016 investigation by ABC News reported that Humble—a former Nevada gold prospector who has claimed to have arrived on Earth from another galaxy—had fled the US and was living in a small town outside Guadalajara, Mexico, out of reach of US law. Other reports noted that Humble, who also calls himself an archbishop, still gave seminars in the US on how to sell MMS.

In August of 2019, the FDA sent fresh warnings to consumers to avoid MMS, noting that the agency had received new reports of people experiencing severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after drinking MMS.

“The FDA will continue to track those selling this dangerous product and take appropriate enforcement actions against those who attempt to evade FDA regulations and market unapproved and potentially dangerous products to the American public,” then acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless said in a statement.

In April of this year, Judge Kathleen Williams of US District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a temporary restraining order requiring the Grenons and Genesis to stop distributing MMS directly or indirectly. On May 1, Judge Williams issued a full injunction order.

The Grenons did not comply with the order, according the investigative work by the undercover FDA agent. However, such covert work was apparently unnecessary as the Grenons wrote letters and emails directly to Judge Williams saying they were not complying.

In an April 21 letter to Judge Williams, the Grenons wrote, “We are practicing ‘civil disobedience’ against this unjust order! Civil disobedience is permitted in the US Constitution, peaceably of course at first, if possible,” adding, “NOTE: The 2nd Amendment is there in case it can’t be done peaceably.”

“The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing will not stop… providing our sacraments to the world! The DOJ and FDA have NO authority over our Church,” the letter said.

In subsequent Genesis podcasts, the Grenons continued to make threats, saying, “You’ve got the 2nd [Amendment]. Right? When Congress does immoral things, passes immoral laws, that’s when you pick up guns, right? You want a Waco? Do they want a Waco?”

They also accused Judge Williams of committing treason and said, “You think we’re afraid of some Obama-appointed judge that broke their oath? You’re no judge. You could be taken out, Ms. Williams. [W]e’re not obeying [the order]. Don’t care what you do.”

In a press statement on the charges, US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Ariana Fajardo Orshan, noted that “not only is this MMS product toxic, but its distribution and use may prevent those who are sick from receiving the legitimate healthcare they need.” She added that the court “already has ordered the defendants to stop distributing this product; we will not sit idly by as individuals purposefully violate Court orders and put the public in danger.”

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1690783