Pa. man gets federal prison time for bilking pet owners in fake cancer cure scheme

A Montgomery County man was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for running a years-long scheme to defraud desperate pet owners by claiming drugs he sold them would cure canine cancer.

Jonathan Nyce, 73 of Collegeville, a former pharmaceutical executive, ran several companies that purportedly developed drugs to treat cancer in dogs.

His company websites boasted of the safety and effectiveness of drugs — he called them Tumexal or Naturason — that were in fact made from bulk ingredients from various sources which Nyce mixed himself and he told pet owners they dogs could participate in drug trials if they forked over substantial amounts of money.