"YOUTH" PEDDLER RECEIVES 13 YEARS A judge ruled Thursday that a local pharmaceutical entrepreneur will spend the next 13 years in prison for illegally selling a "Fountain of Youth" drug to thousands of mostly old, sick people over the past decade. But James T. Kimball, 60, still insists he did nothing wrong. "As far as what I did, I did for humanity," Kimball told the judge. "What I did I believe was a humanitarian thing to do ... I didn't need the money and I wasn't in it for the money." But U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara didn't believe him. "Mr. Kimball just does not respect authority, he does not respect the law ... especially when it gets in the way of the what's truly important - the almighty dollar," Lazzara said. The case was so extraordinary, Lazzara ruled, that he gave Kimball substantially more than the average sentence. That increased Kimball's prison term by about nine years. State and federal agents who had spent nearly a decade investigating Kimball didn't leave the courtroom during the six-hour hearing. When U.S. marshals led him away, they expressed relief that the case was finally over. A jury convicted Kimball in May of eight crimes, including conspiracy, unlawful distribution of a misbranded drug and making false statements to U.S. Customs. The trial, which lasted more than three weeks, centered on the distribution of deprenyl. Deprenyl is a key ingredient in Eldepryl, a patented drug used to treat Parkinson's disease that is available only by prescription. The federal Food and Drug Administration requires a doctor's approval for it because deprenyl, which the government says is chemically related to methamphetamines, causes dangerous side effects when combined with some foods and other medications. But in Kimball's opinion, the drug has only helped people. He claims the drug slows aging, improves sex drive and reduces the effects of some brain-degenerating diseases, and insists his case is about the freedom of Americans to buy substances that can make their lives better. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Rubinstein said authorities had warned Kimball over and over again to stop selling the drug. Instead, the Wesley Chapel man moved his operations, destroyed his records and began to make only cash sales. In the past decade, prosecutors estimate that Kimball has made millions of dollars selling deprenyl. Kimball said he will appeal his sentence. Lazzara said he will consider releasing Kimball on bail while the appeal is pending.
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