KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Kodiak Island Ambulatory Care Clinic was searched by officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday morning. Despite the raid, the clinic is still open and no charges have been filed.
The clinic’s medical director and owner, John Koller, said he was in shock over the search.
“They just pulled up, just like in the movies and they come on, tell me to step back, put my hands up, and they searched me,” said Koller.
Koller also said they also took his cell phones while they looked around.
Chloe Martin, the public affairs officer for the FBI field office in Anchorage, said in an email Wednesday, Nov. 8 that they were “assisting the Alaska Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in their lawful execution of state search warrants.”
The Kodiak Police Department also sent uniformed officers to stand by outside during the raid. Francis de la Fuente, the public information officer for the department, said in a phone call that their officers did not participate in the search.
Koller said he and his staff did their best to cooperate with law enforcement.
“My understanding was a big part of it was they were looking for drugs and they searched here and my home and did not find any drugs,” he said.
The searches took about six hours each, but neither he nor the clinic has been charged since the incident.
Koller says he’s lived and practiced in Kodiak for over two decades performing routine care like check ups, urgent care, and some minor surgeries. He said they had to reschedule all of the patients scheduled for that day.
“It’s a very humiliating experience,” he said. “I thought it was very unnecessary, we’re very cooperative. They didn’t handcuff me, that was nice.”
The clinic is still open and serving patients as of Thursday, Nov. 9.
Further investigation is being handled by the Alaska Department of Law. Its communications director, Patty Sullivan, could only confirm by email that the investigation is ongoing and did not provide any details.
