A man who sold a toxic fertilizer as a diet pill has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Scott Edward Cavell of Sacramento was sentenced Tuesday for interstate commerce of misbranded drugs.
Prosecutors say that between 2015 and 2017, Cavell and others marketed a drug called DNP for weight-loss and fat-burning while officially selling it as a fertilizer.
DNP is used as a fertilizer, a pesticide and for manufacturing but it’s not approved for human consumption because the Food and Drug Administration says it’s too toxic.
Cavell acknowledged that he controlled websites that marketed the drug in pill form as a supplement.