Self-Proclaimed Biotech Expert Sentenced For Peddling Fake COVID-19 Vaccines Manufactured In Garage

A self-proclaimed biotech expert who manufactured fake COVID-19 vaccines in his garage and sold them to people for up to $1,000 each has been sentenced to probation.

Johnny Stine from Redmond, Washington was sentenced to five years of probation and $246,986 in restitution, the Department of Justice said in a news release. The 57-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, in August 2021.

Stine claimed to be the founder and president of North Coast Biologics and advertised through Facebook posts in March 2020 that he had developed a COVID-19 vaccine, and offered to administer it to customers for $400-$1,000 each.

An undercover sting operation was conducted after the FDA received reports about Stine selling homemade vaccines by advertising them online.

Stine told an undercover agent that he had developed a vaccine that attacked cancer tumors and used a similar method to develop his COVID-19 vaccine.

During the sting operation, investigators also received a complaint that Stine injected a friend with the supposed vaccine he developed for COVID-19 and at least one person who was "vaccinated" by him was hospitalized with COVID-19. Stine admitted to the agents that he traveled across the U.S. administering the so-called vaccine on people.

The Washington State attorney general then issued a warning asking Stine to stop offering his "vaccine," but he continued the sales and even traveled to Idaho to inject an undercover agent in August 2020. He was later arrested in January 2021.

Stine made more than $200,000 selling fake vaccines to cancer patients, promising them that they would be cured, according to U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. "He truly preyed on those who were desperate for any glimmer of hope, injecting people with unapproved substances developed in his rented garage, with no assurance of safety or purity," Brown said.

"The FDA works tirelessly to identify and neutralize threats to consumers, including halting the sale of products with unproven claims to treat, prevent, or cure COVID-19 and other conditions, such as these unapproved injectable drugs that were purported to be ‘vaccines’,” Lisa L. Malinowski, a special agent from FDA Office of Criminal Investigations said.