Digital Bulletin

PROVIDENCE -- A federal judge today sentenced an Exeter man who offered false hopes to the sick and dying by prescribing bogus treatments to more than 12 years in prison.

In sentencing John E. Curran to 150 months, U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi called him "the worst of the worst" con artists for preying on people's worst fear -- their health.

Curran, 41, was convicted last May of pretending to be a doctor, after a two-week trial presented evidence that Curran performed bogus diagnostic tests and frightened people into buying expensive treatments.

Lisi scheduled a second sentencing hearing for Oct. 12 to determine a fine and the amount of restitution Curran must pay to his victims. Curran was taken into custody after being sentenced today.

Curran also forfeited to the government treatment machines that he used to promote his scheme and about $15,000 in a Citizens bank account in the name of his business, the Northeastern Institute for Advanced Natural Healing.

Minutes before his sentence, in a courtroom packed with his supporters and detractors, Curran asked for leniency.

He described his criminal acts variously, saying he had "overstated my authority" and taken "short cuts." But he referred to himself as a natural healer and "a man of God. To deceive people is against my belief system."

Instead, he said he was deceived by Internet charlatans "who guaranteed me I could use these diplomas in my practice. I should known better not to trust anyone over the Internet."

According to evidence presented at the trial, Curran wore a lab coat with "M.D." after his name as he looked at people's blood under a microscope, and told them they had parasites, immune-system failure or even cancer. He told dying people that he could make them better and healthy people that they were in danger of dying.

As treatment, he sold them "E-water," which he said had healing powers similar to the waters at Lourdes, and "Green Drink," a powdered vegetable mix that he said helped the body fight disease. He also had an array of machines in his office that patients could use for $10,000; they included a hyperbaric chamber, an "ionizing footbath," and devices that applied heat, water, oxygen, massage or infrared lights. In two years, Curran's patients bought $1.4 million in treatments, federal investigators showed.

Curran, who had practiced in Cranston, Providence and East Greenwich, had been under investigation by federal authorities since April 2004.