Minnesota Nurse Investigated for Allegedly Encouraging Suicide

Oct. 16, 2009— -- A Minnesota nurse whose license was revoked by the state is under investigation for allegedly encouraging the suicides of people he met on the Internet.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 47, has not yet been charged, but the case has drawn the attention of the U.S. Attorney's Office and several Minnesota law enforcement agencies after as many as five people attempted suicide or successfully completed the act.

Melchert-Dinkel's license was revoked by the Minnesota Board of Nursing in June in light of the police investigation and after years of reprimands and documented infractions. The license had been suspended since February.

According to the nursing board's public action document, it received a complaint in August 2008 that Melchert-Dinkel was under investigation by the St. Paul, Minn., Police Department for allegedly using fake identifies on the Internet and encourgaing people to kill themselves, sometimes watching the suicides via webcam.

The complainant, according to the document, was the mother of a 32-year-old man who, she said, had hanged himself after corresponding with Melchert-Dinkel online.

In January 2009, Melchert-Dinkel was admitted to a hospital, the admissions survey noting that he was "dealing with addiction to suicide Internet sites," and, "feeling guilty because of past and present advice to those on the Internet of how to end their lives."

The nursing assessment also noted that Melchert-Dinkel had a four-year "suicide fetish" and had posed as a 28-year-old woman on the Internet in order to make suicide pacts with others even though he had no intention of following through on his end.

A medical record from that time indicated Melchert-Dinkel was involved with an Ottawa woman who jumped to her death after talking with Melchert-Dinkel online. He reportedly also told individuals that his nursing experience gave him "expert knowledge into the most effective ways to kill yourself."

Reached by phone, Melchert-Dinkel declined to comment to ABC News about his job or the allegations against him.

"What they said was all nothing new," he said of the information contained in the Board of Nursing document.