A Las Vegas man who posed as a doctor and claimed to heal cancer and AIDS with natural remedies was sentenced Thursday to nine months in the Orange County Jail.
Daryn Wayne Peterson, 37, was also banned from working in the medical field and selling vitamins and drugs for five years.
He pleaded guilty in December to the unauthorized practice of medicine, operating an HMO plan without a license, offering an unapproved drug for cancer treatment and selling misbranded food, according to a statement Thursday by the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Peterson, who treated patients from his Orange County home, is not licensed to practice medicine in California and told patients he had a doctorate from Canterbury University. But district attorney’s investigators obtained the same diploma from the online Canterbury University for $180.
The investigation was prompted by a 2009 Orange County Register article about Peterson in which he said his supplements had cured cancer, AIDS, heart failure and peanut allergies. He also encouraged patients to cancel health insurance policies.
The article, titled “A rejection of Western medicine,” quoted two patients who turned out to be Peterson’s sister and her boyfriend, according to the district attorney’s office.
— Raja Abdulrahim