For Further Information, Contact:
Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie K. Pierson (619) 546-7976
SAN DIEGO - Salt Lake City resident Beth Campbell pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that she fraudulently sold a prescription medical device to an undercover agent who she knew did not have a prescription.
In pleading guilty, Beth Campbell admitted that she sold medical devices from her home in Utah over the Internet, and in December of 2014, she offered to sell an undercover agent a medical device without a prescription, to treat a condition for which the device was not approved for use. Campbell acknowledged that she sold the device for $3,495, knowing that a prescription was required and that the agent had no prescription.
Campbell stated that she told the undercover agent that the device required a prescription, which could be easily obtained from a chiropractor, or one could enroll as a distributor with her and then buy the device without a prescription. Campbell advised the agent that it was not necessary to sell the machines to be a distributor, but only to enroll as one to purchase the machine. Campbell admitted that when the agent expressed discomfort over the distributorship agreement, she offered to personally order a machine herself and then ship it to the agent, without a prescription or distributorship agreement.
Campbell admitted that she acted with the intent to defraud by attempting to make it appear that this transaction was a legitimate sale of a prescription medical device by ordering it herself, and falsely representing that it was a display model for a distributor.
The device, the Wellness Pro, is a prescription medical device approved by the FDA for use to treat pain, and not to treat cancer, as she claimed. The Wellness Plus device sold in this transaction was misbranded because it lacked adequate directions for use in that it was a prescription device sold to a layperson who was not under the supervision of a licensed practitioner.
Campbell is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. before the Honorable Roger T. Benitez.
DEFENDANT Criminal Case No. 15cr0360-BEN
Beth Campbell Age: 54 Salt Lake City, Utah
SUMMARY OF CHARGE
Misbranding- Title 21, U.S.C., Sections 331(a) and 333(a)(2)
Maximum penalty: Three years in prison and $250,000 fine
AGENCIES
Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations
Homeland Security Investigations
Postal Inspection Service
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
