An Appanoose County man who has been repeatedly accused of practicing medicine without a license over the past three years is again facing criminal charges related to an unlicensed healthcare facility he operates in rural Iowa.
Court records indicate that the Old Cabin Retreat in Centerville has been the subject of at least one death investigation in recent years.
Police have charged 36-year-old Eddie Gingerich of Moravia, the alleged owner and operator of the 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.
Police allege that between April 2023 and February 2026, Gingerich knowingly held himself out as a medical provider and dietician and performed medical evaluations, diagnoses, treatments and procedures without the required licensure.
In court filings, Gingerich has indicated he never progressed in school past the eighth grade but, according to Appanoose County law enforcement, he claims to have treated more than 70 cancer patients at the Old Cabin Retreat.
Court records show the building in rural Centerville is outfitted with therapy and treatment rooms, patient rooms with hospital-style beds, an oxygen chamber, a heat bed, a body scanner of some type, and an office with laboratory equipment and medical charts.
Police allege Gingerich’s illegal conduct resulted in “significant financial gain” for him “while impacting public safety through incompetent care, false or misleading health advice, and lack of accountability leading to confirmed injury and death” of visitors to the Old Cabin Retreat, which is located just off Highway 5 in Centerville.
The total amount of the illicit proceeds from the “retreat” is approximately $887,404, county law enforcement officials allege.
Police allege that while working at the Old Cabin Retreat, Gingerich diagnosed diseases and prescribed supplements and special diets for patients.
“Multiple patients that were on scene and present during the search of the premises gave statements pertaining to overnight stays and receiving treatment,” one police report states. “Multiple patients stated they gave urine and saliva samples to be evaluated by Eddie Gingerich to determine what their ‘levels’ were.”
Some patients visited and “stayed” at the Old Cabin Retreat, police allege, making the Old Cabin Retreat fit Iowa’s legal description of a hospital.
According to Appanoose County law enforcement records, Gingerich completed bank account transfers and engaged in spending that was designed to conceal the illicit nature and source of the funds generated by the Old Cabin Retreat.
Gingerich has yet to enter a plea in the case.
Criminal charges first leveled in 2023
It’s not the first time Gingerich has faced such charges. In November 2023, police charged Gingerich with three counts of violating medical licensure laws and one count of violating state laws regulating hospitals.
In that case, Gingerich was accused of diagnosing an Old Cabin Retreat patient with high blood pressure, allergies, and cancer of the liver, pancreas and large intestine.
As part of plea bargain with county prosecutors, Gingerich eventually agreed to plead guilty to one count of violating medical license laws through the employment of an unlicensed dentist and all of the remaining charges were dismissed. Gingerich was fined $1,500.
Court records filed by Gingerich’s attorney indicate law enforcement officials had investigated the Old Cabin Retreat even before the 2023 arrest, beginning in December 2021 when the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the building.
In October and November of 2023, the sheriff’s office conducted what Gingerich’s attorney, J. Michael Boomershine, later called an illegal search made without a warrant using “recording devices.”
“The Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office knew the truth of the Old Cabin Retreat at the time of procuring warrants,” Boomershine told the court. “The facility is run by an Amish man engaged in religious practices consistent with the tenets of he and his patrons’ beliefs.”
Undercover probe used camera in coffee mug
Boomershine alleged that Appanoose County Sheriff Department had “illegally utilized the assistance of a person named Rosemary Miller who wore a wire and video camera under the color of seeking services” from Gingerich. “Ms. Miller, who is ex-Amish, assisted law enforcement without a warrant or probable cause.”
In response to those claims, prosecutors told the court the Old Cabin Retreat was first brought to the sheriff’s attention in November 2021, when authorities received an anonymous complaint from an Amish man who said he’d taken his wife to the Old Cabin Retreat and her condition had worsened as a result.
One month later, prosecutors said, the sheriff’s office “conducted a death investigation at the Old Cabin Retreat” and then executed a search warrant at the building.
“From December 2021 through October of 2023, the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office continued to receive various tips and complaints regarding poor treatment of individuals at the Old Cabin Retreat,” prosecutors alleged. “One of the aforementioned complaints involved a critically ill child that had to be life-flighted to Des Moines.”
Prosecutors acknowledged the sheriff’s office then contacted Miller to assist with an undercover investigation at the Old Cabin Retreat. Miller went to the facility while wearing a wire and holding a coffee mug equipped with a hidden camera, court records show.
During Miller’s visits to the retreat, Gingerich had Miller “pee in a cup and spit in a cup,” and then diagnosed her with various illnesses, including cancer, prosecutors alleged.
As part of a search warrant application in the 2023 case, the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office alleged that after Gingerich collected the samples from Miller, he spoke to her about her diet, indicated he could tell her kidneys were stressed by the redness of her eyes, and told her that her pancreas and liver had “carcinoma cells in them,” suggesting she had cancer. He allegedly charged Miller $75 for the visit, with future visits to be billed at $175 each.
Patient death and a child’s injury are alleged
In court filings, county prosecutors alleged they have witnesses prepared to testify that one man who was receiving care at the Old Cabin Retreat had died from cancer.
In other court filings, the prosecutors have alleged it was “undisputed that the death occurred at the Old Cabin Retreat and that a Department of Human Services investigation occurred due to a child’s injury/illness related to their stay at the Old Cabin Retreat.”
Other court records detail the incident involving the child. County law enforcement officials allege beginning in July 2023, an 11-year-old Amish child was being treated for diabetes at the Old Cabin Retreat. According to the sheriff’s office, while being treated there, the child stopped taking his insulin and other medications.
Three weeks later, deputies claimed, the youth was “extremely ill and vomiting,” prompting his parents to take him to a licensed emergency treatment facility, from which he was life-flighted to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines.
In one recent search warrant application, an Appanoose County deputy states that during his investigation of the Old Cabin Retreat earlier this year, he ran across a 2025 Facebook post from a Centerville woman and her two small children posing in front of the retreat.
In a separate post, the woman wrote that one of her daughters had an unspecified disease and that she, the mother, had decided to go against the advice of the medical team at the University of Iowa Hospitals where the doctors recommended radiation treatments. The woman wrote that she then took her daughter to “see a man” used by the Amish community. “My daughter no longer has this disease,” she wrote. “Praise the Lord!”
‘Bring us your worst case … Memberships only.’
The application indicates that days later, a Centerville police officer contacted the sheriff’s office about a female relative coming to the Old Cabin Retreat to be treated for stage 4 lung cancer at a cost of $3,500 per week.
Two months later, the officer’s relative died, and family members reported the woman had stayed at the retreat for six days, where she was told to stop taking all medications and was then treated with a special diet and supplements. At the time, the family allegedly reported, there were about 10 other patients staying at the retreat.
Court records indicate the Old Cabin Retreat advertises 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. Memberships only.”
In some of his social-media posts, police allege, Gingerich posted the names and health conditions and test results of specific patients.
In one search warrant application, an Appanoose County deputy reported earlier this year that while on his patrols, he’d frequently see small groups of people, or the occasional individual, walking along the remote, rural road that leads to and from the Old Cabin Retreat.
