NZ Skeptics Articles

A very human update on the “living man”, Roger Blake

Bronwyn Rideout - 23 January 2024

Following up on my MMS piece in September 2023, and Lousie Richardson’s update two weeks ago, it appears that this living man can’t help but make the headlines.

Roger Blake sold chlorine dioxide bleach to people desperate to cure autism, diabetes, herpes, aids, and cancer, but really rocketed to public attention during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sold as a water purifier as a way to avoid detection, his product was actually “Miracle Mineral Solution”, or MMS. Medsafe had previously warned Blake to cease selling MMS in 2009, 2020, and 2011 but he clearly didn’t, scoring almost $107,000 in purchases between January and May 2020. The total sales from December 2019 to December 2020 was $160,000, according to Medsafe, with March being the most profitable month.

Blake’s sales of MSS despite the documented harm it inflicted and the lack of documented evidence that it was effective is deplorable, but that has been overshadowed by his shenanigans in court. Playing by the Sovereign Citizen playbook landed Blake on the front page of Stuff and the Herald more than once, as he tried to avoid accountability for his actions. Blake had claimed that he was being enslaved by Judge Crowley, and that both Crowley and Crown Prosecutor Paige Noorland owed him billions of dollars. Most recently, he spent 28 days in custody for refusing to sign a bail bond.

At his January 17th sentencing, and with the reality of his situation setting in, Blake finally admitted that he was in “deep water” due to his poor understanding of court procedures, and acknowledged that he would do things differently in the future. However Blake’s remorse seems limited, as he felt he had already paid back his debt to society, mostly due to the 28 he spent in custody - which allegedly nearly ruined his livelihood. Judge Crowley replied that Blake’s behaviour was disgraceful, and his predicament was not due to lack of courthouse knowledge but a clear violation of the Medicines Act.

As per the Medsafe press release, the 29 charges Blake was convicted of were:

NZ Water Purifier Ltd was also convicted of 20 charges jointly with Blake.

Blake was sentenced to 10 months and two weeks in jail, and ordered to pay Medsafe $4620 - which is half the cost of storing the chemicals that were removed from Blake’s business. Blake was also granted home detention, should he wish to cooperate with the Probation Service. Blake had initially refused to do this in December when he declined to sign documents for the bail bond, a process that requires an interview with the Probations Service. It was at this time that the Crown Prosecutor suggested that the sentencing date be moved up from February 21st to January 17th, and for Blake to be appointed a lawyer to assist him as he had been representing himself thus far.

So far, nothing published indicates that Blake is remorseful about actually selling MSS, nor that he acknowledges that it is a grift. It is food for thought that, according to RNZ, the public gallery was nearly at capacity with people who attended to support Blake.