ROGERS — Situs Oncology, closed Thursday while federal agents served a search warrant, will be open for business Monday, staff members said.
The clinic’s normal hours are Monday through Thursday. Staff members at the clinic Friday deferred questions to Fayetteville attorney Herb Southern.
At A Glance
Tax Records
Tax-exempt organizations are required to file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service. IRS records indicate Situs hadn't filed a Form 990 in 2011 or 2012, but filed an e-Postcard update with the IRS noting it didn't meet the income filing threshold. The same holds true for Life Preservers, which has the same tax identification number as Situs. Situs is listed as a public charity on the IRS website. No report could be found for 2010. Nonprofit organizations were required to file with the IRS if they had income of $25,000 or more under 2009 guidelines and $50,000 or more in 2011 and 2012, according to the IRS website.
Source: Staff Report
Clinic staff will cooperate with the investigation, Southern said. Southern confirmed Situs will open, but noted records seized during the FBI search will slow operations.
The clinic served people in the gap between insurance and Medicare, and treated a variety of illnesses, not just cancer, Southern said.
“In our society, if you do not have money you do not get treatment,” Southern said, defending the clinic’s mission.
Special Agent Kim Brunell, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Little Rock office, confirmed Friday three airplanes were seized from the Rogers Municipal Airport during Thursday’s search, and a fourth plane was seized from the Bentonville Municipal Airport.
Mobile health units seized Thursday were intended for expanding operations into the Arkansas Delta, Southern said. The planes would have supported that effort, he said.
Jim Bolt, Situs director, had an interest in the Delta, according to Dr. G. Doty Murphy of Springdale, who described himself as a former volunteer at the clinic.
One of the mobile units was in place when he left Situs to develop a counseling ministry in April 2012, Murphy said. He volunteered with the clinic as a physician on a weekly to biweekly basis sometime after they moved to the 1222 W. Poplar St. address until last year.
“I don’t know what they’ve done since then,” Murphy said.
Most of the patients weren't afflicted with cancer, but he treated patients with fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis and shingles. He didn't see many patients, Murphy said.
Murphy was named head of a Situs Cancer Research Center study investigating intravenous ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, to see if it improved quality of life for cancer patients, according to records with the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Murphy said it was a hepatitis C study.
Filed in May 2010, the study was retooled in January 2011 after the U.S. Federal Drug Administration issued a warning letter to their vitamin C supplier. The resulting shortage of injectable vitamin C closed the study in August, according to the study history with the National Institutes of Health.
Several other studies have listed vitamin C as a quality of life enhancer during cancer treatment.
“It really is an amazing treatment for many things,” Murphy said.
Brunell said Friday there was no public safety concern connected with the FBI investigation.
“If there were any risk to the public we would notify the victims or those concerned,” Brunell.
Brunell previously described the investigation as “white collar” crime.
It's possible that the clinic was investigated because of its connection to alternative medical treatments, Southern said.
Southern said, as of Friday afternoon, he hadn't met with Bolt or reviewed financial statements for the clinic.