Paul Evan Seelig, 48, has been sentenced withbiveline in the water for over 5 up to 11 years in prison for falsely advertising and selling gluten-free bread. He is being charged with 23 counts of fraud.

            Seelig claims that he did not know about that the bread was not gluten-free and he blames it on his supplier. He did confess however, that he lied to the state investigator when they asked if the bread was truly gluten-free.

            “It’s justice because he could have killed people by lying; they weren’t just little white lies. They made a good example out of him,” said Hoang Robinson, teacher.

            A gluten-free diet is either a choice or a dietary need. Celiacs disease is a condition where gluten, a protein in wheat, will not pass through the digestive system. If a person with celiacs eats a product containing gluten, they can become very ill.

            “The number of complaints we (Food and Drug Protection Division) received against this one company was completely unprecedented," said Brett Weed, an investigator with the Food and Drug Protection Division. "(We) never had this many first-person accounts from people about products from one particular company.”

            Seelig sickened 23 different customers who are on a gluten-free diet. One of the victims was a pregnant woman, whose baby was born prematurely.

            When investigators showed up at Seelig’s home to question him, he came to the door and lied saying that he was John Gleason, an employee.

Acting as Gleason, he told the investigators that Seelig had the flu, cancer and that he had suffered from a heart attack. He later confessed that he was lying about the illnesses and he was indeed Seelig.

“He’s just covering himself up with one lie after another, causing him to make more mistakes,” continued Robinson.