A former Port Angeles naturopathic physician has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to eight months in prison for selling products he claimed could prevent and treat numerous serious diseases, including COVID-19 and MRSA.

Richard Marschall, 69, was sentenced on the federal felony charge March 28. 

Convicted in October 2021 following a four-day trial, Marschall was found guilty by a jury of Introduction of Misbranded Drugs into Interstate Commerce.

Prosecutors said it was his third conviction for the same crime following earlier prosecutions in 2011 and 2017.  

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said: “It is extremely dangerous during the COVID epidemic for people to be engaged in conduct that would lead other people to defer and wait to receive medical care.”

The sentence included one year of supervised release for a federal felony related to his misbranding, and sale in interstate commerce, of passing out misbranded drugs.

“Mr. Marschall has a history of lying to patients about their health and his proposed treatments,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

“His lies in this case are particularly troubling because he employed them when advising others about a deadly pandemic,” Brown added. “As people became fearful and searched for answers, Marschall touted an unproven treatment as a miracle cure for the deadly disease. Such conduct can prevent patients from getting the legitimate treatment they need if they become ill.”

In late March 2020, U.S. Food and Drug Administration criminal investigators began reviewing complaints from the public about Facebook posts for Marschall’s products.

Investigators reviewed Marschall’s Facebook page which included claims that his product the, “Dynamic Duo,” could “crush” viruses, including the coronavirus, according to records filed in the case.

Marschall billed himself as a retired naturopath and “health coach.” Prosecutors said Marschall’s Facebook page also claimed that his products could eliminate MRSA and other infections, “even if there is antibiotic resistance.”

An undercover FDA investigator spoke to Marschall on the telephone in an undercover capacity on March 30, 2020, prosecutors noted, and told Marschall that she was worried about COVID-19.  Marschall told her that the “Dynamic Duo” contained garlic extract and larch tree starch, and further represented that one of the substances “doesn’t boost the immune system, it just kills the virus,” and stressed the second substance would boost the production of white blood cells.

The undercover agent ultimately ordered the “Dynamic Duo.” It cost $140, plus shipping. 

Investigators also said Marschall referred to himself as a doctor, but did not have a license to practice naturopathy. (The Washington State Department of Health permanently revoked his credential to practice as a naturopath in 2018.) 

FDA investigators also found products themselves were not made by Marschall but by other manufacturers.