Man charged after lying about Chinese hormone shipments

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged a former medical product distributor with making a false statement to the federal government regarding hormone shipments.

The U.S. Department of Justice says in a news release that 45-year-old Alfred Lamoureux Jr. of Columbiana, Alabama, falsely told a postal inspector he was awaiting packages containing cosmetics for his wife in May 2016. According to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office on Tuesday, Lamoureux knew the packages from China contained injectable human chorionic gonadotropin, a pregnancy hormone he intended to sell as a means of weight loss. That use is not FDA-approved and can cause harmful side effects.

Lamoureux's distribution company lost its permit in 2015 for buying drugs from a source without a pharmacy board permit.

Prosecutors have also filed a plea agreement with Lamoureux.