(CN) - The Ohio Supreme Court suspended an attorney and licensed chiropractor from the bar indefinitely after he was convicted of 98 felonies for acting as an unlicensed physician's assistant.
Charles W. Theisler spent 20 years as a chiropractor before obtaining his law license in 1993. Five years later, he graduated from medical school but was never licensed to practice medicine.
Nonetheless, Theisler worked with a pair of doctors who formed the group Pain Management Associates, writing prescriptions for their patients.
A grand jury indicted Theisler on 118 counts, including drug trafficking, illegal processing of drug documents, and practicing medicine or surgery without a license. He was convicted of 98 felony counts and went to prison for three years.
Theisler was released in September 2008 and remains on probation until September 2011. The Ohio high court suspended the Youngstown attorney from the practice of law indefinitely.
Theisler argued that he did not believe at the time that what he did was wrong.
But the justices agreed with the Mahoning County Bar Association that "a lawyer who (allegedly) researches an issue and, in reliance on that research, is convicted of 98 felonies, is as much of a threat to future potential clients as a lawyer who researches the law and knows his conduct is wrong, but nevertheless commits the felonies."
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