STOCKTON - San Joaquin County prosecutors were wrong if they thought Wilmer Origel would simply walk away.

The chiropractor beat charges last year that threatened to send him to state prison for performing a controversial procedure. Now, he's firing back with a $5 million lawsuit. He says an overly zealous prosecutor violated his civil rights.

Origel, 49, said that armed agents early one morning raided his family's Modesto home. He was jailed for 18 days and lost his clinics amid the criminal prosecution that ended in a mistrial.

On top of it all, he says he did nothing wrong. Aside from filing the lawsuit Sept. 21 in the Sacramento federal courthouse, Origel says these days he's trying to put his life back together.

"It's like a tornado hit," he said. "I'm going around picking up all these little pieces."

In his suit, Origel accuses San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney J.C. Weydert of taking the bait from an insurance company that urged him to file the criminal charges when no other prosecutor in the state would.

As a business strategy, Travelers Property and Casualty Company, the insurer named in the suit with Weydert, wanted to get Origel and other chiropractors convicted, Origel said. He called it a conspiracy.

The linchpin issue in his criminal case was the procedure called manipulation under anesthetics. Under the procedure, an anesthesiologist briefly puts patients under to avoid painful adjustments the chiropractor performs.

While a typical adjustment costs a few hundred dollars, a manipulation under anesthetics cost thousands, in part because it involves an anesthesiologist.

The bottom line sparked the insurance company's push for criminal prosecution, Origel said.

Attorneys for Origel and four other chiropractors caught up in the case say a conviction would have put a chill on anybody else who performed the expensive adjustment, increasing the insurance company's profits.

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