An Elkhart man already facing charges for wire fraud and a murder-for-hire plot is now accused of trying to sell “miracle cures” to at least one person with cancer.
Charles Ray Smith faces six charges of wire fraud and one count of unlawful monetary transaction. He is accused of stealing more than $300,000 from people he tricked into phony investments.
But phony investments weren’t all Smith was dealing in, according to Elkhart County resident Mary Bass.
Bass tells ABC 57 that Smith tried selling her fake miracle cures for cancer after she was diagnosed with leukemia. She said Smith first tried to pressure her into buying a home from him, but when he learned about her diagnosis, he tried to sell her miracle cures he claimed to have discovered in Tibet.
Bass said the potion, in a “strange-looking” glass bottle, cost $50,000.
Smith told her that if she took the cure, her cancer would be gone in two weeks.
Bass told ABC 57 that Smith’s presence was “hostile and demanding” and he had guns on his ankle and waistband.
At the same time Smith was offering miracle cures to Bass, federal investigators were getting close to Smith. Once federal agents started talking to victims, a confidential source with the FBI reported that Smith arranged to have scam victims and witnesses killed.
Smith is out of prison and on house arrest in Elkhart. He is wearing an electronic monitoring device.
Smith’s attorneys declined to comment on the allegations made by…
