EXCLUSIVE: Inside Sordid ‘Underbelly’ of $2.5 Million Ranch Where Mormon ‘pH Miracle’ Diet Author Robert O. Young Lured Patients for Bogus Treatments

A new docuseries is set to uncover the horrifying "underbelly" of the luxurious California ranch where disgraced "doctor" and "pH Miracle" diet author Robert O. Young lured his patients with promises of miraculous cancer cures and treatments.

Young, 73, a descendant of Brigham Young who was raised in Utah as a member of the Mormon faith, shot to global fame in 2002 when he released his debut book, "The pH Miracle," in which he claimed that cancers and other life-threatening conditions could be treated with all-vegetable diets and injections of baking soda to "alkalinize" the body.

By 2012, the so-called wellness expert—who has been convicted on three occasions of practicing medicine without correct credentials—was operating his own treatment facility outside of his avocado ranch in Valley Center, CA, which he purchased for $2.7 million in 2002, according to records.

Now, the truth about the ranch and the horrifying conditions patients were subjected to is being laid bare in a new Investigation Discovery program, "The Curious Case of ... Death by Detox?"

The episode is the first in the network's second season of "The Curious Case of ..." series, which premieres on Jan. 12 at 10 p.m. ET.

In an exclusive clip shared with Realtor.com® ahead of the Season 2 premiere, one of Young's ranch employees, energy healer Dessa Ireland, speaks out about the horrifying conditions and filth she encountered in the home—and the truth about what patients were met with when they arrived for treatment.

At the center of the 40-acre property was a stunning compound featuring a main residence, four guest casitas, a tennis court, and a garage that had been converted into a professional kitchen and dining room.

Images of the ranch were featured prominently in advertising materials for Young's "pH Miracle Center," also known as the "pH Miracle Ranch." However, upon arrival, his patients found that their accommodations were not housed in the property, but rather in an RV that was parked on the compound, according to Ireland.

"When I came to work at the ranch, you drive through the gates, and there's tennis courts and there's a beautiful studio, and there was a three-car, four-car garage that they had converted to a kitchen and dining room," she recalls in the episode. "We were getting the avocados off the avocado trees!

"Then you start seeing the underbelly of the beast."

According to Ireland, that "underbelly" involved filthy, rat-infested motor homes where guests would be housed and would also undergo treatment during their time at Young's pH Miracle Center, which charged patients up to $1,900 a night, Ireland recalled.

"The brochure for the pH Miracle Ranch was showing Robert Young's personal residence. These people were looking at the brochure of his home, his pool, his water walkway to his massive, beautiful estate doors—not the mobile trailer that was also the colonics room. Mind you, I think he was charging $1,900 a night," she said.

"So I started feeling like, 'Hmm, that feels a little strange.'"

Things went from bad to worse when Ireland uncovered the filthy conditions inside one of the RVs, where she said she encountered an oven filled with rat feces in a clear sign of a rodent infestation.

"One of the 'rooms' was their family RV," she explained. "And before somebody checked in, I would always go in and do a pre-check. And I kept having this smell in there, and I recognized the smell, and when I opened up the oven, there were two inches of rat droppings in the bottom of this oven [in the RV] that these people were sleeping in.

"So I cleaned it out. I did my job, because that's what you do. And I told him, 'This place should not have anyone in it.' But he would never address the issues. 'Just clean it up the best you can.'"

Despite appearing glamorous and luxurious from the outside, Young's personal residence was even worse inside, which Ireland said she soon found herself being asked to tidy.

"I went into this position knowing that I would be cleaning five guest residences. And then it comes to pass that now I'm doing Robert Young's personal residence," she said. "The amount of dishes that I would clean on a daily basis made me feel like I was cleaning up after seven people.

"There was no concept of picking up after yourself. None. I went into the master bathroom. ... I don't think the toilet had been running for months, yet he was still using it. So you can imagine what it looked like. It was like a porta-potty, but in the master living quarters.

"No flushing. No running water. What the f--k? What pigs. And the laundry and their Mormon underwear. It's just like, 'Oh my God.'"

Patients were put on a strict treatment regimen as soon as they arrived at the ranch, with Young claiming that "through respiration, defecation, urination, and perspiration ... you can eliminate the toxins out of your body," according to "The Curious Case of..."

Those treatments included regular colonics, lymphatic massage, green juices, alkaline water, and IV infusions of sodium bicarbonate, more commonly known as baking soda, which Young claimed would help to restore the body's pH balance.

The veneer surrounding Young's treatments and his facility was finally shattered in January 2014 when he was arrested after an undercover investigation carried out by the San Diego Medical Board’s Operation Safe Medicine Unit resulted in the "doctor" being charged with multiple counts of theft as well as practicing medicine without a license.

Young—who had previously been arrested in 1996—was sentenced to several months behind bars.

In November 2018, he was ordered to pay $105 million to a cancer patient, who sued him for treating her without a proper license and for urging her to forgo traditional medical treatment to focus on his alternative therapies.

That amount was later reduced to $25 million.

According to property records, Young offloaded his ranch for $2.5 million in March 2023, with a listing at the time noting that the dwelling required "major overhaul," including necessary "maintenance and improvements."

Listing images showed the ranch in a state of disarray, with dead plants lining the swimming pool, old Christmas decor littering the living areas, stained carpets, and random pieces of furniture seemingly left abandoned throughout the home.

An old mattress can be seen on the floor of one bedroom, which still had clothing in the closet.

It's understood that the money from the sale of the home was being used to pay some of the $25 million settlement awarded to Young's former patient.

Young was convicted again in February 2025 "for [the] fraudulent medical treatment of a 79-year-old woman with a life-threatening liver illness" and "willful abuse of an elder," according to a statement issued by the San Diego District Attorney's Office.

"It is unconscionable that this defendant continued to treat patients for serious illnesses when he
had twice been convicted of practicing medicine without a license and has nothing more than a
high school education and purchased ‘degrees’ from unaccredited correspondence schools," District Attorney Summer Stephan said in the statement.

"His fraudulent treatments did not address the serious illnesses of his patients, putting them at serious risk."

The statement further noted that Young's pH Miracle diet regimen has been "soundly debunked by the
medical community."

Young, who was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison, has repeatedly denied the charges made against him, including during a 2025 interview filmed behind bars, which is featured in the ID documentary.

"The Curious Case of ... Death by Detox?" premieres on Jan. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on ID, with new episodes airing every week. The episodes will also be available to air on HBO Max.