An abortion practitioner who does abortions in Salt Lake City, Utah but may be trying to expand her business elsewhere has lost her medical license in Wyoming for lying about her criminal background on her application.
Nicola Irene Riley voluntarily surrendered her Wyoming medical license last month after investigators from the Wyoming Board of Medicine found her covering up her criminal record. The surrender became effective on April 15, according to officials with the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, which notified LifeNews of the development.
Riley admitted under questioning that she did not tell the truth about her actual involvement in a credit card and identity theft ring while serving in the U.S. Army in Ft. Carson, Colorado in 1991.
Riley attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but records indicate she pled “no contest” to not reporting credit card fraud perpetrated by soldiers under her command. She was sentenced to serve one year at the Ft. Leavenworth military prison after which she received a dishonorable discharge from the Army. Later, Riley eventually returned to school and obtained a medical degree from the University of Utah in 2002.
Riley also made headlines when her Maryland license was suspended in September, 2010, due to her involvement in a severely botched illegal late-term abortion with abortion practitioner Steven Chase Brigham at a late-term abortion clinic in Elkton, Maryland. Police raided the facility and discovered the bodies of 35 aborted babies, prompting a murder investigation that remains ongoing.
The Maryland Board of Physicians later formally charged Riley with counts related to the illegal late-term abortion ring, and with lying to gain licensing in that state. Maryland documents indicated that their investigation shows she also lied to gain admittance to medical school and to obtain a medical license in Utah.
According to Operation Rescue, Riley had told Wyoming officials that she pled “no contest” to conduct unbecoming an officer for failing to report in a timely manner criminal acts committed by soldiers under her command, and that she served only one year at Ft. Leavenworth Military Prison in Kansas.
However, military records the pro-life group obtained indicated that Riley was in fact the leader of the criminal enterprise that used personal information gathered while performing military duties to apply for credit cards, which in turn were used to fraudulently purchase expensive jewelry from local merchants. The records also reveal that Riley actually pled guilty to the offenses, was sentenced to a 30 months confinement, and was stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged from the service.
According to the Wyoming license surrender documents, after Riley admitted she lied, Board investigators informed Riley that it was their belief that she had violated the Wyoming Medical Practice Act, and if she did not voluntarily relinquish her license, a petition would be filed to seek revocation of it.
Meanwhile, the pro-life group has learned that state officials in Virginia also denied a license application from Riley based on her open disciplinary case in Maryland, where she could eventually face criminal charges.
As a result, Riley is only licensed in the state of Utah and continues to do abortions there. OR says authorities in the state are aware of Riley’s legal problems but have refused so far to investigate further.
“If Nicola Riley is too dangerous and unfit to practice in Maryland, Wyoming, and Virginia, it is unfathomable how she can continue to practice with the blessing of the Utah Division of Occupational Professional Licensing,” Operation rescue spokeswoman Cheryl Sullenger said. “They are failing in their duty to protect the public and need to be held accountable for this gross lack of concern for public safety.”
Operation Rescue is urging pro-life advocates to contact the Utah Division of Occupational Professional Licensing and ask officials to take immediate action to protect the public from Nicola Riley by suspending her medical license and consider permanently revoking it. Contact the agency at (801)530-6621 or [email protected].
