Police in Frederick report cancer-cure scam

State police arrested a door-to-door salesman for trying to sell a phony cancer cure in southern Frederick County.

About 1 p.m. yesterday, a resident of the Point of Rocks area called police to complain about a man promoting what he said was a cure for cancer. The salesman, saying "cancer cells cannot exist in a magnetic field," was selling magnets in a small box. An undercover policeman purchased several magnets from him.

Louis Matacia, 60, of Bluemont, Va., was arrested after allegedly prescribing a treatment for cancer, representing to the public that he could cure or prescribe a treatment for cancer, and selling a device that is manufactured or represented to the public as a cancer cure.

Mr. Matacia is being held in the Frederick County jail on $50,000 bail.