Florida Preacher Mark Grenon Arrested In Colombia For Selling Fake COVID-19 Cure That Allegedly Killed 7 People

Two Florida men wanted in the U.S. for selling a fake COVID-19 cure were arrested in Colombia on Tuesday. The Colombian prosecutor’s office said that Mark and Joseph Grenon were arrested in the beach town of Santa Marta and had been shipping their “Miracle Mineral Solution,” also known as chlorine dioxide, to clients in the United States, Colombia and Africa.

The office’s statement alleged that seven Americans have died so far from using the Grenons’ substance.

Mark Grenon is the archbishop of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Bradenton, Florida. The church centers itself around the use of chlorine dioxide as a sacrament and claims it cures many illnesses such as cancer, autism, malaria and now the coronavirus.

Multiple agencies searched the church last month with warrants and a federal order. These teams found 50 gallons of muriatic acid, 22 gallons of the “Miracle Mineral Solution” and 8,300 pounds of sodium chlorite on the property.

In April, a Miami federal judge ordered the church to stop selling the substance but leaders ignored it.

In July, a federal criminal complaint charged Mark Grenon and his three sons, Jonathan, Jordan and Joseph with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Domestic Act and criminal contempt. If convicted of all the charges, the Grenons will face between 14 and 17 years in prison. As of now, none of the Grenons have any attorneys representing them.

In August, the FDA said in a news release that “ingesting these products is the same as drinking bleach. Consumers should not use these products, and parents should not give these products to their children for any reason.”

The federal complaint against the Grenons says that they initially agreed to follow Kathleen Williams’, the U.S. District Judge’s, order to stop selling the solution but then changed their tone. “We will NOT be participating in any of your UNCONSTITUTIONAL Orders, Summons, etc,” an email from Mark Grenon read. “Again and again I have written you all that … you have NO authority over our Church.”