Fake Oncologoist Jailed For Prescribing Bags of Dirt to Cancer Patients

A man from El Cerrito, California who was posing as an oncologist in Richmond, California and offering patients expired drugs and even a bag full of dirt as treatment for cancer was arrested recently. Officers arrested 69-year-old Vincent Gammill on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license, dependent adult abuse and furnishing drugs without a license. A 49-year-old woman first alerted Ventura County deputies in June that she believed Gammill duped her out of $2,000 and may have harmed her with fake medication. The woman, who has late-stage cancer, told deputies she saw his website in 2009 and decided to seek his services as a last resort if traditional medicine failed to treat her cancer, according to sheriff's deputies. She visited his Richmond office, located at 3065 Richmond Parkway, in June and deputies said he gave her a long explanation of how he was going to help her. He reportedly told her to alter the dosage of the medication prescribed by her doctor and provided her with plastic baggies containing various powders, empty capsules, vials of liquid, commercially produced medication with expired shelf life dates and at least one bag of dirt, deputies said. At one point, deputies said Gammill brought out a frying pan and told her that one of the compounds could burn a hole through the table. He proceeded to tell her how to mix the ingredients, which she did, and then they transferred the mixture to a capsule for her to ingest, which she also did, deputies said. The woman began to feel a burning sensation in her stomach, but deputies said Gammill told her it was "good her stomach was burning" because it meant the ingredients were "still active." Deputies said they could not locate any record of the man's medical training and on July 9 served a search warrant at his home. Inside they found laboratory equipment with bottles labeled "corrosive" and "poison"and more than 25,000 prescription pills, including morphine, Ambien, steroids, and Mexican and Russian prescription pills at both his home and office.


source: KGO