Utah Man Who Sold Snake Oil COVID Cure Caught After 3 Years On The Run
Somehow Pedersen evaded law enforcement for the past three years, despite some serious charges, including mail fraud, wire fraud and felony introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Staring into a web camera while wearing a white lab coat and stethoscope, Gordon Hunter Pedersen spent the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic peddling silver products as a fraudulent cure for the disease, prosecutors say.
Pedersen had no clinical evidence that colloidal silver cured coronavirus — and he wasn’t a medical doctor. In connection with the scheme, the Cedar Hills man was federally indicted in July 2020 with mail fraud, wire fraud and felony introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead.
But after failing to appear in court the next month, Pedersen spent three years on the run, evading capture until federal agents spotted the 63-year-old in Utah County last month, where he was ultimately taken into custody, the U.S. attorney’s office for Utah announced Monday.
He was scheduled to appear in federal court for his initial appearance Tuesday afternoon.