Vincent Gammill: Con-Man ‘Doctor’ Gave Cancer Patient Bag Of Dirt, Said It Was Medicine, Cops Say

Vincent Gammill ran something called the Natural Oncology Institute, a business that advertises “alternative and complementary care for those with cancer.” But the 69-year-old Richmond, California, man was arrested last week because, authorities now say, his “cancer treatments” included phony pills, expired prescription drugs, and even a bag of dirt — among other nonsense.

Gammill charged his patients thousands for his services, police said after receiving information from a woman in Thousand Oaks, California, who says she drove 300 miles, spent two days with Gammill, and paid him $2,000 only to realize that he was feeding her a line of complete baloney.

In fact, though Gammill claimed to be a doctor of some sort, but when police checked him out, they found nothing to indicate that he had ever received any medical training at all.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Gammill himself initially confessed the he had no advanced education beyond a high school diploma — but he soon “remembered” that he had obtained a Ph.D. sometime about two decades ago, police said.

“I was very upset that there was somebody who’s preying on cancer victims who are desperate to live,” said the woman who informed police about her experience with Gammill — a victim who asked the media to identify her only by the name “Fern.”

Fern, who is 50, says she has fought against breast cancer for seven years. After growing weary of multiple, draining chemotherapy sessions and other conventional treatments, she sought “alternative” care and was drawn to Gammill’s website, which as of July 19 remained accessible at this link.

“I believed he had an answer to my problems. He was mentioned on the internet as being a guru and that he could do vaccines,” Fern said. “He did give me various prescriptions that were all expired.”

He also gave her empty capsules, and a pill that he said was so acidic that it would burn a hole in her kitchen counter. When it still burned her stomach after taking it in diluted form in his office, Gammill told her the burning sensation meant the medicine was working, reported ABC News.

In addition, he gave the woman a baggie containing what appeared to be dirt and trash, claiming it had medicinal properties, she said.

When police searched Gammill’s home, they found plenty of drugs, but nothing that could be legitimately used to treat cancer. The 25,000 pills included morphine, the sleeping medication Ambien, and steroids — as well as other substances in bottles labeled “poison.”

The case comes just as a Michigan cancer doctor, Farid Fata, was sentenced to 45 years in prison after admitting that he prescribed chemotherapy and other dangerous treatments to patients who did not even have cancer.

The cops busted Vincent Gammill on July 9, charging him with practicing medicine without a license, giving patients dangerous drugs also with no license, and the abuse of a dependent adult. The police are now searching for more of Gammill’s victims, while the phony doctor himself, out on $10,000 bail, awaits his next court appearance on August 31.

[Image: Natural Oncology Institute]