ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Stockton woman was indicted as running a franchising business to provide dubious treatments for pain and a wide range of ailments – and collecting $1 million in franchise fees. The indictment against Tammy Wadsworth, 62, was from a federal grand jury investigation with evidence from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Winona County sheriff’s investigators. The indictment, as detailed by Andrew Lager, the U.S. atrjey for Minnesota, asserted that Wadsworth:
> Founded the Pain, Injury and Brain Centers of America as a national franchise organization.
> Operated the business out of her house on Old County Road 23 on the Stockton south side.
> Defrauded PIBCOA franchisees of fees totaling $950,500.
> Laundered fees from the franchise deals in attempts to conceal them.
The extent of the PIBCOA network was not clear, but the indictment said that franchise fees ranged from $60,000 to $250,000. Wadsworth reportedly trained franchise participants to use PIBCOA devices and techniques to activate cures for specific ailments and diseases. These included Alzheimer’s, arthritis, addiction, autism. Crohn’s, depression, infertility, lupis, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis
Pain, Injury and Brain Centers of America. Headquarters in a house jn a back street in the Winona County town of Stockton. Population: 800.