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Shasta County to receive nearly $100,000 in unapproved drug settlement [Redding Record Searchlight, Calif. :: ](Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 30--Shasta County will receive $95,000 from a settlement announced yesterday with an Ohio-based mail order company accused of falsely marketing dietary supplements and medical devices. Suarez Corporation Industries, Inc. and its owner Benjamin Suarez agreed to a pay a total of $1,796,114.50 in penalties and restitution to 10 California counties that are members of the California Nutritional Supplement Task Force, which includes Shasta County. The company is also bound by a permanent injunction barring it from marketing or selling nutritional supplements in violation of the state's consumer safety laws. The task force of Calif. counties filed a civil enforcement action against the company and its owner in June 2011 in Alameda County Superior Court alleging deceptive marketing and sales of several unapproved drugs and devices in in violation of state law between 2006 and 2010. Those included supplements marketed for weight loss, colon health and system cleansing, such as "AbGone," "Colon Health Complete" and "Slim and Cleanse Complete." Suarez and his company has been the subject of numerous civil enforcement actions since 1978 and attempted to intimidate prosecutors in the past to end investigations into their business practices, according to Shasta County's District Attorney's office. The matter was prosecuted locally by Deputy District Attorney Anand "Lucky" Jesrani with the Consumer Protection Unit, the office said in a release. ___ (c)2014 the Redding Record Searchlight (Redding, Calif.) Visit the Redding Record Searchlight (Redding, Calif.) at www.redding.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |