More Charges Due in Clinic Case

Prosecutors plan to file additional charges against the owner of an unlicensed Santa Ana medical clinic where a woman died last month after seeking an abortion, officials said Thursday.

Alicia Ruiz Hanna, 31, currently faces charges of improperly practicing medicine without a license, including performing a botched abortion last September. Hanna remains under investigation regarding the Jan. 19 death of Angela Nieto Sanchez, 27, of Orange, but no charges have been filed in connection with that death.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick King announced Thursday, at the start of a preliminary hearing for Hanna, that additional charges of possessing medicinal drugs and hypodermic needles also will be filed against her.

Defense attorney Marshall M. Schulman said outside court Thursday that the woman who claims Hanna performed an abortion last year concocted her story to help Hanna’s business partner, Dr. Nicholas George Braemer, who wanted to take over the clinic business.

“It’s all concocted, this whole story,” Schulman said. “Only one person has come forward with something like this.”

According to business records, Hanna in 1992 described her business relationship with Braemer as a limited partnership. Braemer could not be reached for comment Thursday.