A West Valley man has been found in contempt for peddling an AIDS-treatment device in violation of a judge's order.
Tim Themy-Kotronakis and his company, Brinecell, were found in criminal contempt by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene. Sentencing is set for Oct. 25, when Themy-Kotronakis could be fined and jailed for up to six months.Greene noted Themy-Kotronakis' marketing activities with the AIDS machine and a separate product to sterilize medical equipment were banned by the judge's "clear and definite" orders in 1989 and 1994.
"Kotronakis was reminded of the injunction orders, they were explained to him and he acknowledged that he understood the injunction orders," Greene added. "His conduct, in holding sterilizers and AIDS treating machines for sale . . . was intentional."
Nonetheless, Themy-Kotronakis' manufactured, marketed and sold the products to doctors and other consumers in Salt Lake City, Spain, Canada and elsewhere, court records indicate.
When Themy-Kotronakis learned last week that Greene had found him in criminal contempt of court, he filed a pleading with the judge and apparently without the knowledge of his lawyer. He asked that the Oct. 25 sentencing be postponed while he deals with mental-health problems, including two suicide attempts, stemming from the "shock" of being judged in criminal contempt.