A Santa Clarita Valley man has agreed to plead guilty in a federal case accusing him of selling pharmaceutical-grade erectile dysfunction pills falsely labeled as male herbal remedies, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Ronald Daniel Scott, 49, of Stevenson Ranch, is expected to be convicted of one misdemeanor count of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce in accordance with a plea agreement he reached with prosecutors that was filed Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release.
The defendant, who goes by “Danny Scott,” is the CEO of Premiere Sales Group Inc., a Santa Clarita-based firm that agreed to plead guilty to the same charge, officials said.
In court documents, Scott admitted to spending $3.8 million to acquire at least 1.7 million pills from a manufacturer in Walnut over a roughly four-year period.
The manufacturer, 40-year-old John Seil Lee, pleaded guilty in February to multiple felonies related to his companies that sold erectile dysfunction drugs not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Lee was convicted of smuggling tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis, from China. He used the drug to market pills with up to 14 times the level of tadalafil contained in Cialis, officials said.
The capsules — sold under names like “Monster X,” “One More Knight” and “Royal Master” — didn’t have labels disclosing tadalafil as an ingredient and fraudulently claimed no prescription was necessary, according to prosecutors.
Lee allegedly sold at least $11 million worth of the drugs.
Because taking them can lead to life-threatening drops in blood pressure, vision and hearing loss and painful erections that can result in permanent injury, the FDA only allows such drugs to be administered under medical supervision.
Scott’s is one of three federal cases filed Wednesday against sellers of Lee’s misbranded drugs.
Prosecutors identified six other defendants facing misdemeanor charges:
• Contenda Health LLC, a Southern Pines, North Carolina-based company
• Chase Evan Cranford, 36, of Raleigh, North Carolina, the owner of Contenda Health LLC
• Randall Cranford, 65, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, who is Chase Cranford’s father and who assisted him at Contenda Health
• Eldorado Trading Company II Inc., a distributor of adult toys and other sexual products, based in Broomfield, Colorado
• Jon Vogt, 58, of Erie, Colorado, the director of purchasing for Eldorado Trading
• Dennis Jones, 65, of Thornton, Colorado, the senior buyer at Eldorado Trading
These defendants are also expected to enter plea agreements, with Contenda Health and the Cranfords admitting to selling more than 1.4 million pills, and the Eldorado Trading defendants admitting to buying hundreds of thousands of the pills, officials said.
The men could face up to on year in federal prison, while the corporate entities are facing up to five years of probation and monetary sanctions.
