Utah fake doctor behind bars after 3-year manhunt for selling unproven cure

SALT LAKE CITY — A Cedar Hills man who allegedly sold a fake cure for coronavirus before going on the run for three years has been arrested in Utah County.

Gordon Hunter Pedersen, 63, was spotted by federal agents last month, nearly three years after a warrant was issued for his arrest in August 2020. He faces charges related to mail fraud, wire fraud and felony introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Pedersen used the internet to sell a “structural alkaline silver” product that claimed to destroy the membrane of the COVID-19 virus, making it incapable of infecting the human body.

In his YouTube videos, Pedersen said he was a board certified Anti-Aging Medical Doctor” with a PhD in immunology and Naturopathic Medicine.

Back in 2020, officials told FOX 13 News that Pedersen was likely not the only person running a similar scam in Utah, but was the only one that had become big enough to warrant the federal government stepping in and shutting down the business.

“You have a modern-day snake oil salesman from the Wild West who rolls into town and says, ‘This is the cure all that’s going to stop all your ails and viruses and things that are going to get you,’” said John Huber, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah in 2020. “We think that claim is outlandish.”

Pedersen, who also claimed his company’s products also treated various other diseases, including arthritis, diabetes, influenza, and pneumonia, will make his initial appearance in court on Tuesday afternoon.