Judge: Operators of rural, unlicensed care facility are ‘a danger to the public’

Six years after it first opened, a care facility in rural Iowa that has allegedly been operating without the required licensure has been temporarily shut down by a court order.

District Court Judge Crystal S. Cronk issued a temporary injunction last week barring the owners and affiliates of Centerville’s Old Cabin Retreat from continuing to engage in the unlicensed practice of medicine, dentistry and dietetics, ruling that they “are a danger to the public.”

The order was issued in response to a new lawsuit initiated by three of Iowa’s health-related licensing boards. The Old Cabin Retreat has been in business since 2020, according to state records, and is alleged to have promoted treatments for cancer and other ailments despite the fact that none of the staff are licensed medical professionals.

The retreat, which has been the subject of at least one death investigation in recent years, has allegedly advertised a “100% success rate with hiatal hernias” and seizures, as well as proven success with “many cancers, Lyme Disease, heart disease, stomach issues, prostate issues (and) autoimmune disorders.”

In April 2026, Appanoose County prosecutors criminally charged 36-year-old Eddie Gingerich of Moravia, the owner of Old Cabin Retreat, with ongoing criminal conduct; money laundering; engaging in the practice of medicine, dietetics or dentistry without a license, and violating medical licensure laws and state laws regulating hospitals. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

In court filings, Gingerich has indicated he never progressed in school past the eighth grade but, according to Appanoose County law enforcement, he also claims to have treated more than 70 cancer patients at the Old Cabin Retreat.

In June, Gingerich’s attorney, Alfredo Parrish and his co-counsel, filed motions to withdraw as Gingerich’s legal counsel in the case, citing Gingerich’s desire to act as his own attorney in the matter. The court agreed to the request, but days later both attorneys filed new appearances in the case on behalf of Gingerich, indicating they are again representing Gingerich. A jury trial is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2026.

On July 27, 2026, the Iowa Board of Medicine, Iowa Dental Board and Iowa Board of Dietetics launched new civil proceedings against Gingerich, asking the court to permanently bar him and two of his alleged business partners — Jake Gingerich and Dan Helmuth — from engaging in the practice of medicine, dentistry and dietetics.

“Eddie Gingerich, with assistance from defendants Jake Gingerich and Dan Helmuth, is practicing medicine without any license,” the three licensing boards told the court.

The boards allege that while Old Cabin Retreat is a sole proprietorship owned, operated, and managed by Eddie Gingerich, Jake Gingerich is running Kingdom Health Source, and Helmuth has run Solutions by Nature, with all three businesses having operated out of the same building at one time or another.

Solutions by Nature has allegedly offered a wide variety of herbs, supplements and other natural “remedies” sold by Helmuth and which correspond to the products Eddie Gingerich has prescribed to patients. Jake Gingerich is alleged to have purchased Solutions by Nature and now operates the business in largely the same manner as Helmuth but under the name Kingdom Health Source, the boards allege.

Parrish did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday and there was no answer at the retreat. Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to locate the three defendants in the civil case for comment.

Deputy describes one patient death

Court records show that in the spring of 2021, less than a year after the Old Cabin Retreat opened for business, Appanoose County Deputy Jonathan Printy filed a search warrant application with the court as part of an investigation he was conducting into the facility.

Printy told the court his investigation began when an Amish man complained that he had taken his wife to the facility to be treated for some unspecified type of illness, but his wife was later discharged in worse condition than ever, barely able to speak or walk.

On Nov. 5, 2021, Printy went to the Old Cabin Retreat where, he reported, a large banner hung outside saying, “Members Only. Private Organization.”

According to Printy’s warrant application, Eddie Gingerich met him at the door and told him, “It’s all-natural therapy, is what we do, like whole-body balancing is what we specialize in … We’re all into herbs, it’s all herbs we’re using.”

When Printy asked about the “quantum feedback scanner” the business was promoting, Gingerich allegedly showed him into a room where, Printy told the court, “a young Amish man was laying on a hospital-type bed and had some wires or tubes coming from his body and going into a laptop computer or a machine that was hooked up to a laptop computer … I asked, ‘What does that do?’ Gingerich then stated, ‘It goes through and gets the (microorganisms) of, you know, what’s in people – and that’s kind of what we use to go by what herbs they need. If, you know, they got any health issues, it’ll pop up, you know, kind of (indicate) what’s going on, and that’s kind of how we go at it.’”

In his warrant application, Printy told the court Gingerich explained that no diagnoses are made at Old Cabin Retreat, telling the deputy, “Usually most people that come in, they got diagnosed from a doctor somewhere. They come in here, then we know what’s going on mostly. That’s our main thing. They come from a doctor and they don’t want to take medication … They want to go on herbs.”

Court records show that one month after that visit, Printy was dispatched to the Old Cabin Retreat, where a 53-year-old Wisconsin man named Dan Miller was reported to have died. When Printy arrived, Miller had no pulse but was still warm to the touch. In Miller’s room was a chart listing the supplements and food Miller was to be given.

The chart’s printed letterhead, later copied for the court, stated, “Old Cabin Retreat …  A Private Health Care Membership Association… THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD TO OPEN IS A CLOSED MIND!”

Printy grabbed the chart, EMTs arrived on the scene and notified the medical examiner, and Miller’s body was transported to a nearby funeral home, according to the court records.

The three licensing boards that are now suing Gingerich allege that Miller had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 and then, in August 2021, sought inpatient treatment at Old Cabin Retreat.

The state medical examiner later ruled Miller died from “untreated prostate cancer,” the licensing boards allege. At the time, Eddie Gingerich allegedly informed the sheriff’s office he anticipated future deaths at the facility, indicating the retreat was a place for patients to come and die.

Youth hospitalized after treatment

Court records show that a year and a half after Miller’s death, in July 2023, an 11-year-old Amish child traveled to Iowa from Indiana with his parents to receive inpatient care at Old Cabin Retreat for his Type 1 diabetes.

The youth’s healthcare plan indicated he received treatment designed to “re-train his pancreas to make insulin,” according to the licensing boards

The boards allege that on the advice of Eddie Gingerich, the child gradually stopped taking insulin, with his last dose administered at Old Cabin Retreat on Aug. 17, 2023. Eddie Gingerich then prescribed the child a whole-foods diet, plus various herbs and supplements, the boards allege.

Three days after stopping insulin, the child began feeling unwell and was vomiting, the boards allege. On Aug. 22, 2023, three weeks after his admission at the retreat, the child was taken to a nearby hospital emergency room due to complications from uncontrolled diabetes. According to the licensing boards, the child was then life-flighted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at a Des Moines hospital where he was admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis and treated for four days before his blood levels returned to normal.

In response to that incident, the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office conducted another investigation, this time using an undercover operative to gather more information. Using the pseudonym “Rachel Miller,” a woman visited the retreat on Oct. 19, 2023, armed with a hidden camera.

After collecting urine and saliva specimens for testing, Gingerich allegedly told “Miller” there was “no doubt” she had cancer cells in her pancreas, liver, and large intestine, that her kidneys were functioning poorly, that she had high blood pressure, and that her liver was in “bad shape.”

According to the state licensing boards, Eddie Gingerich prescribed a comprehensive dietary regime and supplement plan and provided written dietary advice, with unusual spelling and punctuation, that included the admonition, “Your theory got you here, let someone change it for you! holding on to your logics won’t get your health BACK!!!!”

The written advice also is alleged to have stated, “Cows eating the wrong salts will refleck in the numbers! Only in there milk. Any salt thats not pure salt will give you a low sugar for 6 days, its impossable to make a new cell when sugars are low, oxygen is not available, won’t be available for 6 days!”

On Nov. 3, 2023, Appanoose County charged Eddie Gingerich with the felonies of practicing medicine and dietetics without licensure and operating a hospital without a license. Within two weeks, he and the Appanoose County Attorney’s Office reached a plea deal that resulted in Eddie Gingerich pleading guilty to one reduced misdemeanor charge of employing an unlicensed dentist.

Court records show Eddie Gingerich paid a fine of $1,500, and the Old Cabin Retreat remained open for business.

On Sept. 26, 2025, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing conducted an on-site visit at Old Cabin Retreat. According to the licensing boards, DIAL allegedly collected photographic evidence showing all of the facility’s “medical, dental, and pseudoscientific equipment” remained on-site and available for use.

‘Bring us your worst case. Warning: There are no MDs here.’

Newly disclosed records related to a June 2026 search warrant for Eddie Gingerich’s phone indicate that police believe Gingerich bought the Appanoose County property and built the Old Cabin Retreat in 2020.

Shortly thereafter, police now allege, a bank account that appears to be have been used by Eddie Gingerich to deposit revenue from the business began to grow in size.

One search warrant application describes “yearly totals” for account “activity” — it’s not clear whether “activity” references deposits, withdrawals or both — grew from $58,909 in 2019 to $914,256 in 2022.

The warrant application indicates the “only year Eddie Gingerich filed taxes was in 2021,” when he allegedly stated his total annual income was $67,538 — although, deputies allege, bank records point to income of at least $792,548 in 2021.

Court records show the facility is outfitted with therapy and treatment rooms, patient rooms with hospital-style beds, an oxygen chamber, a heat bed, an office with laboratory equipment, on-site laundry facilities, a kitchen and a dining area.

According to the licensing boards, one room at the Old Cabin Retreat is outfitted with a dentist’s chair and “equine dental tools” — tools typically used by veterinarians in treating the teeth of horses. “Charts on the wall purport to map out how specific teeth in a person’s mouth are related to other parts of the body and/or vital organs,” the boards allege.

The boards’ lawsuit also claims all patients at Old Cabin Retreat sign a “Private Healthcare Membership Association” contract before treatment in which they acknowledge they are pursuing health care treatments using nontraditional methods, and that the care they receive is provided by people without any license to practice medicine.

The licensing boards’ lawsuit alleges that records seized from Old Cabin Retreat show that as part of their treatment, many patients received “Miracle Mineral Solution,” which is the trade name for chlorine dioxide gas, a toxic industrial disinfectant that is considered unsafe for human consumption but is promoted by some alternative practitioners as a cure for various ailments.

According to county deputies, the Old Cabin Retreat has advertised on social media by stating, “Helping the sick – spiritually, mentally and physically, by the Word of God and with God-given foods and herbs!! Bring us your worst case. Warning: There are no MDs here, only the wisdom God taught us, and to him be all the glory.”

In addition to seeking a permanent injunction barring the two Gingeriches and Helmuth from practicing medicine, dentistry or dietetics, the three state licensing boards sought, and were immediately granted, a temporary injunction, citing what the boards described as practices that “already resulted in the death of one man and the life-threatening hospitalization of a minor child.”

The defendants’ actions, the boards told the court last month, “pose a serious, ongoing threat” to the public health.