Charges dropped against Utah doctor accused of throwing away $28,000 in COVID vaccine doses
U.S. Attorney General
Pam Bondi
said in a post on the social media platform X that charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, of Midvale, Utah, were dismissed at her direction.
Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the government; conspiracy to convert, sell, convey and dispose of government property; and aiding and abetting in those efforts. The charges were brought when
Joe Biden
was president.
'Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,' Bondi wrote. 'He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.'
Felice John Viti, acting U.S. attorney for Utah, filed the motion Saturday, saying 'such dismissal is in the interests of justice.'
The trial began Monday in Salt Lake City with jury selection. It was expected to last 15 days.
Messages sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Viti's office in Salt Lake City and to Moore were not immediately returned Saturday to The Associated Press.
A federal grand jury on Jan. 11, 2023, returned an indictment against Moore, his Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc., others associated with the clinic and a neighbor of Moore's. The indictment alleged more than $28,000 of government-provided COVID-19 vaccine doses were destroyed.
They were also accused of providing fraudulently completed vaccination record cards for over 1,900 doses of the vaccine in exchange for either a cash or a donation to a specified charitable organization.
The government also alleged some children were given saline shots, at their parents' request, so the minors believed they were getting the vaccine.
Health Secretary
Robert Kennedy Jr.,
a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation's top health official, posted his support for Moore in April, saying on X that Moore 'deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!'
During his confirmation hearings in January, Kennedy repeatedly refused to
acknowledge scientific consensus
that
childhood vaccines
don't cause autism and that
COVID-19 vaccines
saved millions of lives.
In a follow-up X post on Saturday, Bondi said Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought the case to her attention.
___
Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
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