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Doctor convicted of defrauding Lou Gehrig's disease patients
The Associated Press
Published: Friday, December 8, 2006
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey doctor and her assistant were found guilty Friday of taking thousands of dollars from patients by promising to cure them of Lou Gehrig's disease with a stem-cell therapy they did not, and could not, deliver.
A federal jury found Charlene DeMarco and her aide, Elizabeth Lerner, both of Egg Harbor City, guilty on all 11 counts with which they were charged, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

During closing arguments of their trial Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Geni Cowles told jurors that the pair took advantage of people from rural Louisiana who believed the doctor - a Lyme disease expert - could cure their Lou Gehrig's disease-stricken loved ones.

"They provided false hope to get funds," Cowles said. "These families scrimped and saved, went to their communities for money, and the defendants took that money and spent it on themselves while the families hoped in vain for a cure."

One woman, Barbara Parker, held a fundraiser in Louisiana asking friends and neighbors to contribute to the treatment for her husband, which she said DeMarco told her would cost more than $30,000.




The four patients sent the doctor and her assistant a total of more than $75,000, the jury found.
Cowles said they used the money during a weekend at a winery, and on a propane barbecue grill, among other purchases.

The treatment the patients were promised was beyond what DeMarco could do - and was not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, Cowles said.

During DeMarco and Lerner's trial in U.S. District Court in Camden, several defense character witnesses talked about how the doctor treated them expertly when they had Lyme disease.

Lou Gehrig's disease, formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that causes muscle weakness and eventual paralysis. There is no known cure. Life expectancy for an ALS patient averages two to five years from time of diagnosis.

Baseball star Lou Gehrig first brought national and international attention to the disease in 1939 when he abruptly retired from baseball after being diagnosed with ALS.