Indiana Business Owner Gets Prison Sentence After Distilling and Selling Toxic Alcohol That Killed Customers

An Indiana man has been sentenced to four years in prison after he distilled illicit toxic alcohol that resulted in at least three deaths. (Photo: Olivier Polet/Abaca/Sipa USA

Dennis R. Zeedyk, a La Porte, Indiana native, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and one year of supervised release after distilling illicit toxic alcohol that resulted in the deaths of at least three customers who consumed it, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau announced Wednesday.

Zeedyk, who pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax fraud by a distillery, was additionally ordered to pay restitution amassing to $43,727.93 to the victims of the offense, as well as a fine of $76,500.

According to the TTB, Zeedyk, who owns a glycerin processing and trading company named Glycerin Traders, used an unregistered still to illegally produce a liquid containing “toxic levels ” of methanol.

The product was marketed as pure, non-denatured, food-grade grain ethanol distilled from 100% corn, but according to the TTB it was instead sourced from the remnants of denatured industrial alcohol shipments from Lake Michigan barges.

“Defendant Zeedyk is a modern-day snake oil salesman, who hawked his product to unwitting consumers as being a ‘pure’, food-safe and ‘safe for human consumption’ ethanol product when, in fact, his product contained high levels of deadly methanol,” United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson said, according to the IRS. “As this prosecution shows, the United States government, through its various law enforcement agencies, will use its power to protect the consuming public from criminal businessmen, like Zeedyk, who use lies to entice consumers to purchase and to use products that are dangerous.”

The TTB, FBI, IRS, FDA, EPA, Indiana State Department of Health and Hadley Police Department jointly investigated the case.

“This was an egregious, and thankfully, rare crime involving an illegal still and fraudulent product misrepresentations that resulted in the loss of life because of a product that should have never entered the domestic marketplace,” said Anthony Gledhill, assistant administrator for field operations, TTB. “TTB takes our responsibility for maintaining a reliable and safe alcohol marketplace seriously, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana and our local, state, and federal partners.”

The deaths of citizens due to illegally produced liquor is uncommon in the U.S. but a sadly frequent occurrence in some countries (especially those with heavy alcohol regulation and restriction) such as India.