Florida Men Wanted For Selling Bleach As COVID Treatment Arrested In Colombia

A Florida man, who claims to be an “archbishop” of a purported church, and his 32-year-old son, who had been wanted by federal authorities for selling a dangerous chemical solution as a COVID-19 treatment, have been arrested in Colombia.

The men, Mark Grenon, 62, and his son, Joseph Grenon, were arrested in the coastal town of Santa Marta, where they were preparing shipments of their bogus “Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS) for buyers in the U.S. Colombia and Africa. A tweet from the Colombian Attorney General on Tuesday showed the two men, in blue lab suits and face masks, being escorted in handcuffs by law enforcement.

The solution being sold by the Grenons is chlorine dioxide, a chemical used in the creation of bleach. Consumption of the substance has been linked to seven deaths in the U.S., leading to charges being brought against the two men, as well as Mark Grenon's other sons: Jonathan Grenon, 34, and Jordan Grenon, 26.

According to reports, Mark Grenon operates the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Bradenton, Florida, as an archbishop. The self-styled church is focused on selling the “solution” as a sort of miracle cure for a wide range of diseases and conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and autism. The operation was ordered to stop selling chlorine dioxide in April by a federal judge in Miami but this order was ultimately ignored after they initially agreed.

“We will NOT be participating in any of your UNCONSTITUTIONAL Orders, Summons, etc,” Mark Grenon wrote in an email to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. “Again and again I have written you all that... you have NO authority over our Church.”

In April, the Guardian reported that Mark Grenon had reached out to President Donald Trump in a letter and encouraged him to push chlorine dioxide as a treatment for the novel coronavirus. Only days after this letter, Trump mused about potentially looking at injections of bleach as a way to fight the virus. The FDA swiftly issued an advisory warning Americans not to ingest MMS or any sort of similar substance for any reason.

“If you are drinking MMS or other sodium chlorite products, stop now,” the FDA statement said. “The FDA has received many reports that these products, sold online as ‘treatments’, have made consumers sick.”

The Grenons now face charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and criminal contempt. They face between 14-17 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

The FDA has not approved and chlorine dioxide for any sort of health purposes. The bleach is used to make it used to treat things like industrial water, pulp, and paper, and can be fatal when ingested.

"Making claims that unproven drugs, especially potentially dangerous and unapproved chlorine dioxide products, can cure or prevent COVID-19 or any other disease is unacceptable," Catherine Hermsen, Assistant Commissioner of the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, said in a statement. "The Genesis II Church of Health and Healing has actively and deliberately placed consumers at risk with their fraudulent Miracle Mineral Solution and Americans expect and deserve medical treatments that have been scientifically proven to be safe and effective."