This is the tragic story a 57 year old Amish man named Sam Girod from Owingsville, Kentucky who was recently tried and convicted by the FDA in federal court on 13 criminal counts involving his marketing of an all natural and time-honored herbal chickweed skin salve that he had been selling to his 20,000 satisfied customers for almost 20 years - not one of whom ever filed a complaint against Sam with the FDA or any other federal or state agency. He is right now suffering in jail awaiting final sentencing and could face up to 68 years in prison. Sam had petitioned the court to allow him to return to his family until the time of his sentencing to provide time for their final sad farewells, but his request was denied on the grounds that the court believed him to be a flight risk while possibly also posing a danger to the community at large.
Sam is a true gentleman who together with his beautiful wife Elizabeth have 12 children and 27 grandchildren. In spite of what he is now suffering, Sam remains a man wholly convicted in his religious beliefs and as such has always treated everyone he meets fairly and with genuine love and respect, which includes his jailers.
Sam has never harmed anyone and he is certainly no threat to anyone. As a point of fact, because of Sam’s religious convictions, he is constitutionally incapable of intentionally causing harm to others. All that he has ever set out to do is to live his life in peace and service to his fellow man.
As stated above, not one of Sam’s over 20,000 customers had ever complained and no witnesses against him were ever brought forward at his trial. But because the tenants and practices of his religious beliefs do not permit him to engage in any form of argument, Sam decided to rely on the truth of his testimony before God alone without the aid of legal council.
It was appalling the way the attorneys for the FDA painted a picture of Sam as being a wanton criminal, making drugs in the hollows of Kentucky as if he were some sort of drug dealer. It was truly a sad day for all of us.
A SWAT team consisting of what appeared to be 4 or more federal and state agents, all brandishing military grade assault weapons and/or sidearms, raided and thoroughly searched Sam’s home last summer. But Sam was not arrested because he was not home due to the fact that he was out working, as most Amish men tend to do during the day. It should be noted that other members of Sam’s family, which included approximately 24 individuals including all of the women and children in the house, were forcefully detained at the point of a gun and ordered to leave their home while the home was being searched by 3 members of the SWAT team. The searchers apparently found nothing of consequence because the FDA did not raise any further complaints or make any physical overtures to apprehend Sam who continued to remain in his home until the date of his ultimate arrest this past January, the more recent assertions of the FDA to the contrary that Sam was hiding out the entire time as a fugitive from justice notwithstanding.
A second SWAT raid, again consisting of what appeared to be 4 federal agents all brandishing military grade assault weapons and/or sidearms, was conducted this past January over the objections of a Sheriff’s Deputy who ordered the agents off the property pursuant to a direct order issued by Bath County Sheriff John Snedeger that Sam was not to be arrested. But this time, and in spite of the lawful order of Sheriff Snedeger prohibiting the arrest, Sam was arrested. He was then brought in front of the court to face the charges alone because of the reasons stated above, even if his personal beliefs cost him his freedom, which has now happened. He now finds himself facing up to 68 years in federal prison for marketing a benign skin salve with a long history of safe use in herbal folk medicine, the same basic formula recipe which is currently being sold on Amazon, with no objection from the government:
https://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Chickweed-Amish-Country-Essentials/dp/B00I8AJ26W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1492376485&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=chickweed+salve&psc=1