A couple who previously lived in Carlsbad admitted in federal court Tuesday to marketing a purported electronic treatment for cancer, AIDS and other diseases without required government approval.
David Perez, 60, and his 55-year-old wife, Sandra, sold so-called “Energy Wave” medical devices via the Internet from their North County home for about $1,200 to $1,500 each, grossing total proceeds of about $271,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.
The product consisted of a micro-current frequency generator with a digital readout, two stainless steel cylinders and two applicator plates.
The couple, who currently lives in Medford, Oregon, provided customers with an operating manual and a list of codes that facilitated hundreds of digital settings for the device, directed to specific conditions from abdominal pain, AIDS and diabetes to stroke, ulcers and worms, court documents state. Users were advised to connect the cylinders or plates to the machine and touch them to the body for a recommended amount of time to treat a given condition.
In his plea agreement, David Perez acknowledged that he intended to defraud and mislead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by attempting to evade the agency’s oversight of medical claims regarding the device.
Sandra Perez, for her part, admitted furthering her husband’s scheme by shipping the unapproved devices and depositing the funds necessary to pay the manufacturer of the devices, David Arthur.
Arthur has entered a guilty plea in the case as well and is awaiting sentencing.
David and Sandra Perez also conceded that they knew, or should have known, that a number of their customers were vulnerable because they had bought the “Energy Wave” apparatus in an attempt to cure serious ailments.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Gallo ordered Sandra Perez to serve one year of probation, perform 100 hours of community service and pay restitution of $1,495 to one purchaser of the device.
“I believe you had to know at some level that this was junk science,” Gallo told her during Tuesday’s court hearing.
David Perez will face a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in January, according to prosecutors.
— City News Service