Before becoming an antigovernment “sovereign citizen,” Rick Van Thiel worked as a porn star, male escort and sex toy inventor in Las Vegas.According to a report by the Las Vegas Journal-Review on October 7, "authorities are trying to determine whether Van Thiel is connected to the so-called sovereign citizens movement." Which was hinted at above:
Now Van Thiel is in jail there, accused of practicing medicine without a license and claiming to have performed dozens of abortions, circumcisions, castrations, root canals, even cancer treatments.
Meanwhile, the FBI, the Southern Nevada Health District and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are attempting to locate more than 100 former “patients” of the sovereign citizen-physician who calls himself “Dr. Rick.”
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Newman pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge and received probation after agreeing to talk with investigators about receiving cancer treatment from Van Thiel. That now seems to suggest Van Thiel has been on investigators’ radar for at least two years, apparently while they worked to build a strong criminal case against him.
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The ongoing investigation of David “Rick” Van Thiel and his associates rekindled on Aug. 7 when the City of Las Vegas business licensing officials received a complaint about an unlicensed medical practice in a residential neighborhood located near the intersection of Owens Avenue and Nellis Boulevard.
FBI agents, armed with a federal search warrant, raided the property on Sept. 30 and shut down the illegal medical practice that day, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported.
Van Thiel used typical sovereign citizen rhetoric in a 2012 suit against a Las Vegas police detective who arrested him on suspicion of soliciting prostitution on the Strip.We also have this development added on,
"Natural born people are sovereign," he wrote in the suit. "The very meaning of sovereignty is that the decree of sovereign makes law... A sovereign's rights are not derived from a government. His rights are natural and unalienable."
In a police report on his prostitution arrest, the detective said he was a five-time felon convicted of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm in Nevada.
Van Thiel said an officer solicited sex from him, which he offered for free, but he spoke to the Review-Journal about two convictions that previously led to his incarceration. After his release from prison, he "expatriated" and sent out letters to have his Social Security number canceled, he said.
Las Vegas Justice Court records show the solicitation charges were dropped, as was Van Thiel's lawsuit.
In media interviews, Van Thiel said Wednesday he knew two suspected sovereign citizens charged with conspiring to kidnap at random a Las Vegas police officer in 2013.
A judge set bail at $1 million Wednesday for an alleged phony doctor after prosecutors said they were considering a murder charge against him.Sovereign Citizen “Doctor” Accused of Performing Abortions, Circumcisions and Treating Cancer | Southern Poverty Law Center
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman said she considered Rick Van Thiel, 52, a danger to the community after listening to prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo describe the allegations.
Van Thiel had 87 so-called "patients" he kept records on, the prosecutor said, and one of them was a young man who died of AIDS.
DiGiacomo said he intended to seek a second-degree murder charge for Van Thiel's "reckless disregard."
The prosecutor is also pursuing sexual assault charges against Van Thiel. In September, a woman who had an abortion had gone to Van Thiel and he performed sexual acts on her, DiGiacomo said.
In a jail interview last week, Van Thiel said he treated people for cancer and HIV, among other serious diseases.
See High-ranking Scientologist arrested in Las Vegas plot to kill police officer for more on Devon Campbell Newman.
