FARIBAULT, Minn. -- A former nurse who helped persuade two people he met online to kill themselves was sentenced Wednesday to nearly a year in jail.
But the sentence has a twist.
The judge structured the sentence so that William Melchert-Dinkel would serve an initial 320 days, then be freed.
Then over the next 10 years, he would have serve two-day spells in jail on the anniversaries of his victims' deaths.
He was also sentenced to 15 years probation.
The married father of two was convicted of aiding the suicides of 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji of Canada and a British man, 32-year-old Mark Drybrough.
Police say he met both in online suicide chat rooms.
Mark Drybrough hanged himself in his apartment.
His sister, who found the body, said she also found e-mails from Melchert-Dinkel on Drybrough's computer.
"You can easily hang from a door ..." Melchert-Dinkel allegedly wrote in one message.
Nadia Kajouji jumped off a bridge and was found six weeks later.
According to court documents, Melchert-Dinkel admitted to police he had made online suicide pacts with 10 or 11 individuals located all over the world.
He would go on chat rooms under the aliases “cami,†“Li Dao†or “falcon_girl,†and introduce himself as a female nurse.
Police say he confessed to touting his medical background, while offering suicide method advice, such as medications and rope-tying techniques.
The criminal complaint said he told investigators he encouraged "dozens" of people to commit suicide and "characterized it as the thrill of the chase."
He also estimated he had actually helped up to five people kill themselves.
Minnesota authorities began investigating in March 2008 when an anti-suicide activist in Britain alerted them that someone in the state was using the internet to manipulate people into killing themselves.
That woman, Celia Blay, 65, first tried to persuade police in her own country to pursue Melchert-Dinkel, but charges were never filed.
Melchert-Dinkel worked at various hospitals and nursing homes over the years, and was cited several times for neglect and being rough with patients, according to the Minnesota Board of Nursing.
