NEWPORT BEACH : Physician Arrested on Fraud Charges

State investigators Thursday arrested a Newport Beach physician on suspicion of fraud for allegedly diagnosing ailments with a machine that has not been approved for medical use.

Authorities said Dr. Robert C. Lynch was arrested shortly after using the device on an undercover officer who was told she suffered from “viruses and parasites.” The agent works for the state Department of Health Services and said she is in good health. She had told Lynch she was feeling run-down and did not know why.

Lynch was led away in handcuffs from his fourth-floor offices on Newport Center Drive by agents from the California Medical Board and the food and drug branch of the state Department of Health Services. Lynch, who turned 65 Thursday, was booked in the Newport Beach City Jail for violations of the state Health and Safety Code. He was released on his own recognizance.

Lynch kept his head bowed and would not comment as he was escorted to an unmarked police car in the parking lot outside the Medical Plaza building where his Goldenwest Medical/Nutrition Center is located.

According to medical board investigators Kathleen Schmidt and Steve Rhoten, the machine Lynch had been using is not approved by state or federal health authorities and is, therefore, illegal to use in diagnosing illnesses.

The investigators added that Lynch committed felony fraud and deceit by using the device while knowing it was illegal. Evidence of this, they said, was contained in a brochure found near the machine that stated that it had not been approved for diagnostic use.

Lynch told investigators that he had used the square-foot-sized diagnostic tool since setting up his nutritional clinic in Newport Beach about five years ago. Lynch, originally from the Chicago area, moved to Orange County eight years ago.

Rhoten said Lynch sees about 10 patients a day who pay up to $125 to be diagnosed by the machine.

Rhoten said agents also discovered in Lynch’s office an unapproved laser machine that the physician was using for “facial pain and rejuvenation.”

State officials said they first learned of Lynch’s operation 1 1/2 months ago when a female patient complained to the medical board. The woman said she had gone in a year earlier for treatment of fatigue, insomnia and anxiety, Rhoten said. After hooking her up to the machine, Rhoten said, Lynch proclaimed that “she wasn’t going to make it” unless she began taking his nutritional supplements.

The woman went to another doctor, however, who assured her that she suffered from no serious illness, Rhoten said.

Rhoten and Schmidt said use of the machine is potentially dangerous because it may misdiagnose a problem that requires immediate medical attention. They added that Lynch was diagnosing all sorts of ailments, including diabetes, arthritis, hypertension and premenstrual syndrome, and treating them with the same nutritional supplement: a blend of vitamins and minerals in a caramel-flavored base.

Rhoten said there is no evidence that the nutritional supplement will alleviate any illnesses.