Investigators Arrest Doctor, Associate at Medical Clinic : Crime: The two are charged in connection with a controversial muscle treatment administered at a Newport Beach facility.

A California orthopedic “specialist” who developed a controversial muscle treatment was arrested by Newport Beach police and state medical investigators Friday on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license, and his associate, a Colorado physician, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy.

Milne Ongley, whose Institute of Orthopedic Medicine has offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, and his associate, Dr. Louis Schlom, were arrested at their Superior Avenue clinic after a six-month-long investigation prompted by complaints from several patients, authorities said.

Investigators of the California Medical Board allege that Ongley examined patients, diagnosed conditions and prescribed treatments with little or no supervision from Schlom.

Both men were investigated by state medical authorities for allegedly practicing under the same arrangement in San Diego in 1979. Schlom’s physician’s license was subsequently revoked for a year, according to records.

Schlom, 69, and Ongley, 65, were arrested after two investigators posing as patients went to the clinic complaining of lower back pain, said Medical Board senior investigator Kathy Schmidt. Ongley diagnosed both men’s conditions and were prescribed a treatment, which consisted of a series of eight injections of the “Ongley solution,” Schmidt said.

The “solution,” a mixture of xylocaine, dextrose, glycerin and water, apparently has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and may have been prescribed illegally, Schmidt said.

Schlom and Ongley were booked into Newport Beach Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail each. Ongley is charged with practicing without a license, unlawful representation as a physician and practicing medicine without a license with the risk of serious injury. Schlom is charged with a felony count of conspiracy to assist in the practice of medicine without a license.

Ongley’s attorney, James F. Campbell of San Francisco, said Friday that his client is innocent of the charges and accused state authorities of pursuing a vendetta.

“I have been to the clinic, seen the operation and there is no way a reasonable person would believe that Mr. Ongley is a doctor,” said Campbell. “All treatment and diagnoses are given at the direction of Dr. Schlom.”

Ongley, a New Zealand native, received a medical degree in Ireland in 1953 but has repeatedly failed tests that would make him eligible for a physician’s license in the United States, Schmidt said.

He received a certificate to practice acupuncture in California, but it was revoked in 1989 when Ongley illegally practiced medicine in San Francisco several years ago, according to state officials.

At the time, investigators also discovered that Ongley had lost an $80,000 malpractice judgment brought in 1973 by a New Zealand man who suffered severe nerve damage after receiving the injection treatment. He has also come under investigation in South Africa, Australia and Greece.

Ongley has hired lobbyists in Nevada and Tennessee in an effort to secure medical licenses in those states and has been sued several times for alleged fraud and negligence.

Despite his troubles, he has accumulated followers who swear by his technique, which involves injection of his solution into damaged muscles and ligaments followed by manipulation or massage of the area.

“He can be so convincing and so charming, but he is a con artist,” said Schmidt. “Nevertheless, there are a huge number of people who just love (him) to death.”

Ongley’s Newport Beach office is filled with autographed pictures of himself with such athletes as Jerry Robinson, a linebacker with the Los Angeles Raiders, and former Olympic pole vaulter Mike Tully, said Schmidt.

However, Ongley was sued for negligence in 1987 by former Olympic high jumper Dwight Stones, who alleged in Orange County Superior Court that Ongley misrepresented himself as a physician at a Costa Mesa clinic and misdiagnosed a hamstring condition. The suit has not been settled.

In October, 1987, someone placed a pipe bomb in a motor home behind the Costa Mesa clinic where Ongley had been staying. He escaped unscathed and no one was ever arrested for the late-night attack.