A La Mesa-based sanitation company and its owners pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges for selling a product with false claims that it could eradicate viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Integral Hygienic Solutions, Inc. — doing business as TruClean — claimed its TruClean 365 product could eliminate the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as other viruses and bacteria for one year when applied on surfaces.
However, prosecutors say that when the pandemic began in early 2020, the defendants actually bought bottles of chemical products from a different company, then placed TruClean's labels onto the bottles. The company claimed in its marketing that TruClean 365 had undergone "rigorous testing" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which validated that TruClean 365 provided year-round protection against virus infections.
"Products represented to kill viruses in the environment are regulated by the EPA as pesticides," prosecutors said in a news release. "None of the products sold under the TruClean name was registered as a pesticide by the EPA, as required by law. Pesticides that are unregistered may not be sold or distributed in the United States."
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
In its plea, the defendants admitted selling more than $800,000 worth of the products, which by law should have been registered as pesticides by the EPA, but weren't.
"The defendants tried to gain commercial advantage during the pandemic by falsely claiming that the federal government had tested and validated their product," U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman is quoted as saying in a news release issued on Thursday.
Sentencing is set for Feb 24, 2023.
