When Jonathan Nyce was released from prison after serving five years for brutally killing his wife in their Hopewell Township mansion in 2004, the former pharmaceutical executive said he planned to continue to work as a research scientist and develop cancer-curing drugs.
“All my training is in cancer (research,)” Nyce told The Times of Trenton in 2010. “So I’m going back to my roots.”
On Tuesday, federal authorities alleged part of Nyce’s work since his release included a scheme to defraud pet owners by falsely claiming to sell cancer-curing drugs for dogs.
The 70-year-old induced the owners of terminally ill dogs “to pay him hundreds or thousands of dollars for drugs by touting the effectiveness of his products in treating a host of canine cancers,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“The defendant’s alleged conduct here is shameful,” U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “As any dog owner will tell you – myself included – pets quickly become part of the family. And when they become sick, caring owners look for hope, often doing everything they can to keep their beloved pets alive and well. The defendant is charged with taking advantage of that nurturing instinct in the worst way possible.”
Beginning in 2012, authorities said Nyce began creating companies to develop drugs intended to treat cancer in dogs. He advertised them online to desperate pet owners as “cancer-curing” medications, which were named “Tumexal” and “Naturasone.” The drugs were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, even though he falsely claimed to buyers, the research was "funded in part by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” authorities said.
“Tumexal is effective against a wide variety of cancers,” an advertisem*nt for one of the drugs reads. “Tumexal will almost always restore a cancer-stricken dog’s appetite, spirit and energy!”
But authorities said the drugs “were nothing more than a collection of bulk ingredients from various sources, which (Nyce) blended together himself” in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, where he currently resides.
Nyce also allegedly told prospective customers that their pets could take part in clinical trials, but in order to do so, they had to pay him “large sums of money,” authorities said.
Nyce has been indicted on charges of wire fraud and the interstate shipment of misbranded animal drugs. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 32 years and a fine of up to $1.25 million.
A bench warrant has been issued for his arrest, according to court documents. An attorney is not listed for Nyce.
The indictment comes nearly 15 years after Nyce was convicted in the killing of his wife, Michelle, a native of the Philippines.
Nyce and Michelle met in 1989 through a newspaper ad that connected American men with Filipino women. The relationship began with letters, but the couple later met and were soon married. They had three children together.
He was accused of killing his wife in their garage after she returned home from an affair with the man hired to landscape the couple’s Mercer County home.
During the trial, Nyce confessed to smashing his 34-year-old wife’s head on the concrete floor of their garage and then propping her body up in her SUV and driving it into a half-frozen creek about a mile away, in an attempt to make it appear she had died in a car crash. His attorney argued at the trial that Nyce had acted in self-defense.
The story drew national headlines, and Nyce was ultimately found guilty of passion-provocation manslaughter and tampering with evidence in 2005. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released on parole after a little more than five years.
In 2012, Nyce published a book, “Under Color of Law," that documents his journey through the criminal justice system and maintains his innocence.
The cover of the book reads: “The deliberate conviction of an innocent man and the destruction of a family.”
Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage.
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