Jail Time For NJ Man Who Sold Pesticides Billed As COVID Killer: Feds

NEW JERSEY - A Burlington County man who marketed and sold over $2.7 million worth of pesticides he falsely claimed were Environmental Protection Agency-registered coronavirus disinfectants was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison, federal officials said.

Paul Andrecola, 63, of Maple Shade, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court for violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said. Andrecola also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and presenting false claims to the United States.

In addition to the prison sentence, Andrecola is slated for three years of supervised release and forfeiture of his $2.74 million in profits, Sellinger and Kim said. Separately, he’s also responsible for making full restitution for all losses to his victims in connection with the scheme.

“Paul Andrecola’s scheme profited on the fears of the American people during the height of concerns about transmission of COVID-19,” Sellinger said in a statement. “Our office is dedicated to protecting public health and prosecuting to the full extent of the law fraudsters who commit such egregious criminal acts.”

From March 2020 through May 2021, Andrecola's scheme made more than 150 sales of unregistered pesticides for a profit of more than $2.7 million, authorities said. His victims include a police department in Delaware, a fire department in Virginia, a medical clinic in Georgia, a janitorial supply company in New York, a school district in Wisconsin, the U.S. Marshals Service, Moody Air Force Base, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Forest Service.

Under FIFRA, all pesticides must be registered with the EPA before the pesticide can be sold or distributed. Before pesticide products can legally make claims that they can kill a particular pathogen, such as COVID-19, the claim must also be authorized by EPA based on a data review.

“The defendant committed a brazen fraud in the midst of a global pandemic and sought to profit from people’s fears of contracting the coronavirus,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) said. “This sentence shows that these crimes are serious and will be vigorously prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”