DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s grand jury indicted four people in addition to a Wheat Ridge-based company, Microforce, on five counts of felony theft for claiming their product could kill Coronavirus.

The indictment stated Microforce owners Chad Butler, Jeffery Stewart, Michael Satchell and their business consultant Bryant Delaney, advertised their disinfecting service contained a product that could create a ‘spike layer’ to kill COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria.

According to the indictment, the company also claimed the disinfectant would be effective against viruses for 30 to 90 days.

The Denver Environmental Protection Agency’s office sent an advisory letter to Microforce in June of 2020. The letter stated the EPA had only authorized Microforce’s products as having deodorizing effects, and not disinfectant capabilities.

Microforce’s owners, according to the indictment, knew of the EPA advisory letter, but continued to market their product as a COVID-19-fighting disinfectant.

Microforce clients included Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Evergreen Park and Recreation District, Valor Christian High School, Elevations Credit Union, and Glenmoor Country Club. The total estimated in theft from these clients from April 1 until Dec. 31, 2020, is around $252,440.

“False and misleading disinfectant claims concerning the Coronavirus and COVID-19 place people and communities at risk,” said Special Agent Lance Ehrig of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Colorado. “As this case demonstrates, the EPA and its Colorado law enforcement partners are committed to the protection of public health.”

The defendants each are charged with varying degrees of theft. It should be noted that a grand jury is a formal accusation of an individual committing a crime under Colorado law.