A federal grand jury has indicted a Bradenton man and his three adult sons with fraudulently marketing and selling a toxic industrial bleach as a cure for COVID-19, cancer, autism and other serious medical conditions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Mark Grenon, 62, and sons Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32, also were indicted with defying federal court orders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Prosecutors say the Grenons also allegedly threatened a federal judge that they would “pick up guns” and instigate “a Waco” should the government attempt to enforce court orders that halted their distribution of their product, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

The indictment charges each of the Grenons with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and two counts of criminal contempt, the news release said. If convicted, they face up to life imprisonment.

The four men, all of Bradenton, manufactured, promoted and sold “Miracle Mineral Solution,” which contained sodium chlorite and water, the indictment said, according to the news release. When ingested, the solution became chlorine dioxide, typically used for treatment or bleaching textiles, pulp and paper, the release said.

Despite a lack of Federal Drug Administration approval, the Grenons claimed that ingesting their product could treat, prevent and cure COVID-19, according to the charges. 

Former President Donald Trump caused a stir last April, in the final year of his term, when he noted that researchers were looking at the effects of disinfectants on coronavirus and wondered if they could be injected into people. Mark Grenon had taken credit for Trump's idea, according to reports.

Regarding the Grenons’ product, authorities previously said people were buying it, using it and getting sick. And the FDA last year warned consumers about the product and others like it.

The indictment alleges that the Grenons took in more than $1 million from selling tens of thousands of bottles of it, the news release said.

They allegedly sold it under Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, “an entity they are accused of creating to avoid government regulation of MMS and shield themselves from prosecution,” the news release said.

Also, the indictment charges the Grenons with criminal contempt, saying they willfully violated court orders that halted their distribution of the product, the news release said, quoting charging documents.