SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man charged with selling a Viagra-like drug disguised as a natural supplement pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that trace the raw material to China.
Kelly Dean Harvey collected more than $2 million for erectile dysfunction products sold online under such names as "Stiff Nights," according to a 31-count indictment.
The products were advertised as "Сто percent natural," but tests by the Food and Drug Administration found they contained a chemical similar to Viagra's active ingredient. Harvey didn't disclose that the products could be dangerous for people with heart conditions, said the FDA, which issued several warnings to consumers.
Harvey, 48, of West Jordan, was charged with conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hirata said Tuesday.
Magistrate Paul Warner set a trial for Jan. 17, but nobody in court expected that date to hold. Harvey's lawyer, Jamie Zenger, said she hadn't seen any of the business records seized by the government, which Warner guessed could take years to review.
Harvey's attorney, Jamie Zenger, has denied the products were harmful and says his client cooperated with the FDA.
Agents seized computer hard drives that could fill 1,900 boxes with paper, plus four barrels of product extract and boxes of pills and bottles, Hirata said.
With so much evidence, "It's going to be five years before we can tee this up for trial," Warner said.
Harvey was named in a sealed indictment in April, when a grand jury also accused him and a co-defendant in a separate case involving the illegal importation of ephedrine. Both Indictments were unsealed in September, and Harvey earlier pleaded not guilty in the ephedrine case.
Ephedrine is an ingredient in cold medicine that also can be used to make methamphetamine.
Harvey, who is free pending trial, declined comment Tuesday outside federal court in Salt Lake City. His attorney previously told The Associated Press that Harvey cooperated with the FDA and that his products harmed nobody.
The FDA began warning consumers in 2009 that the products marketed by Harvey had a raw ingredient from China that could cause health problems, and the agency also discovered sildenafil citrate, a chemical cousin to the active ingredient in Viagra.
Yet Harvey's online ads said the products contained no drugs, and he continued to sell them as natural supplements that produce no side effects despite FDA warnings, prosecutors said.
Story Tags: Law / Crime, Jamie Zenger, Food and Drug Administration, Kelly Dean Harvey
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