Friday, June 17, 2016 | 3:21 p.m.
An ex-felon already in custody after being accused of practicing medicine without a license in Las Vegas has been indicted on multiple felony charges also including sexual assault, which could get him life in prison without parole.
Rick Van Thiel, 53, who police say went by "Dr. Rick," was charged with 30 counts in an indictment filed Thursday in Clark County District Court.
Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said Van Thiel claimed the ability to cure cancer, AIDS and other ailments, and advertised that he could terminate pregnancies within the first 49 days. At least one person died after being treated by Van Thiel, and DiGiacomo told a judge Thursday that state charges could be upgraded based on the findings of a medical examiner's report.
His defense attorney, Scott Coffee, said Friday that Van Thiel will plead not guilty. An arraignment date wasn't immediately set, and more details on the alleged sexual assault weren't immediately available.
Van Thiel was arrested in October after a police search of a trailer he allegedly used as a clinic. Police reported finding guns and records in the trailer suggesting that Van Thiel medically treated at least 23 people and had written agreements to treat many more.
Van Thiel is currently in federal custody on a separate charge of possession of a weapon by an ex-felon.
Van Thiel has prior felony convictions for robbery, attempted robbery, burglary and assault in 1992 in California, and attempted battery with substantial bodily harm in 2007 in Nevada, police said.
The FBI, police and the Southern Nevada Health District have said he recruited patients with Craigslist ads under the term "49days" or through websites including "itsonlynatural.me".
Police said Van Thiel bragged that he learned medicine from YouTube, books and videos. He described agreements with people he treated as private contracts over which the government and courts have no jurisdiction.
He also characterized himself as a subscriber to a "sovereign citizen" theory sometimes cited by people who say they're legally immune from federal, state, or municipal taxes and authority.
Federal authorities regard sovereign-citizen extremists as domestic terrorists, and authorities have linked adherents to violent police confrontations in recent years.
Police say Van Thiel posted an Internet video showing himself performing cyst-removal surgery on a Las Vegas woman who was accused in 2013 of plotting with another anti-government "sovereign citizens" believer to kill Las Vegas police. The woman pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor conspiracy charge in that case and received probation.
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