People who thought they were buying Viagra pills from one Phoenix man were getting stiffed. Er, scammed.
According to Phoenix police, Melvin Rutkowski, 68, was also selling other counterfeit pills online, including Cialis and Levitra.
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Phoenix Police Officer James Holmes says police were tipped off by pharmaceutical-maker Pfizer, which had a private security company investigating possible counterfeit products being sold on the Internet.
"Upon testing, Pfizer Corporation determined the counterfeit Viagra did in fact have a percentage of the active ingredient used in their product; however, it was also determined there were chemicals in the stimulants that were not recognized," Holmes says. "It is unknown at this time what those chemicals are."
Police served a search warrant at Rutkowski's home, near 64th Street and Greenway, on Wednesday. Holmes says detectives recovered thousands of counterfeit or banned pills.
There was another sexual stimulant among the counterfeit pills, called Kamagra, which is legal in India but banned in the United States.
Those pills, plus the counterfeit pills, were all being shipped to Rutkowski from India, Holmes says.
Rutkowski was booked into jail on three different felony offenses, including possessing counterfeit marks, committing fraudulent schemes, and controlling an illegal enterprise.
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