Doctor who claimed herbal treatment could cure cancer is charged with fraud

Collected more than $1 million from patients

Christine Daniel, 55, also an ordained Pentecostal minister, was charged by federal prosecutors after claiming that her ‘C-Extract’ was an alternative to traditional cancer treatments.
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Prosecutors allege that she collected more than $1 million from patients, some of whom later died of cancer or complications from the disease.
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– Source / Full Story: Northridge doctor who claimed herbal treatment could cure cancer is charged with fraud, Shelby Grad, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 9, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

Using her influence as an ordained Pentecostal minister, Daniel tapped into the vessel of faith to entice people from across the nation to try her regimen.

She even appeared on cable’s Trinity Broadcasting Network in December 2002 touting her cancer cure and its 60 percent success rate, according to federal investigators.

Daniel, 55, of Los Angeles was arrested and charged Thursday with two counts each of wire and mail fraud and faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted. She is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday.
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In court documents, authorities contend Daniel took advantage of terminally ill cancer patients in their darkest hours, some of whom desperately sought alternative measures after enduring draining rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
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Prosecutors said Daniel even fleeced other clergy. In late 2003, George McKinney, who founded St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church of God in Christ in San Diego, agreed to have his wife, Jean, treated by Daniel. The couple moved into their son’s home in Los Angeles, and Jean McKinney took an herbal mixture three to four times a day for her terminal colon cancer.

Daniel also used a heat machine that was supposed to reduce the tumor, authorities said. The couple paid Daniel more than $100,000. Jean McKinney died in June 2004.
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– Source / Full Story: Local doctor who touted herbal cure for cancer arrested, AP via the Daily News, Oct. 9, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

Daniel gave Jean McKinney herbs she said were grown in South America and Africa. Prosecutors said they were actually vitamins that could be bought at any drugstore.

George McKinney paid Daniel more than $100,000 for the herbs and treatments.
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Not long after Jean McKinney’s passing, federal agents contacted George McKinney and told him that Daniel was being investigated. McKinney realizes now that Daniel was preying on people in dire straits.

“She took advantage of them for financial purposes, and that’s wicked; that’s evil,” said McKinney.

Daniel is facing charges of mail and wire fraud, and could be sentenced to 80 years in prison.

“Not interested in seeing her punished,” McKinney said. “I’d like to see her make restitution, and I’d like to see her repent for the evil that was done to me and many others.”
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– Source / Full Story: Doctor Accused Of Fraud After Bishop’s Wife’s Cancer Death, KGTV, Oct. 9, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

The Medical Board of California lists Daniel’s license as current and doesn’t list any disciplinary actions against her.

Daniel had already been investigated by the feds back in 2007, when she landed on the front page of the WSJ. At the time, she told the WSJ that she had sold no substances, and described federal investigators as “nut cases” and “evil.” Her attorney said at the time that she was “totally innocent.”

– Source / Full Story: Doctor Arrested on Charges of Selling Herbs as Cancer Cure, Jacob Goldstein, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 9, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

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Religion News Blog posted this on Saturday October 10, 2009.
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