2 Fertility Doctors Out of Country : Scandal: Investigators of UCI clinic are worried they won’t come back.

Two of three doctors implicated in the UCI fertility clinic scandal have left the country, and some investigators are worried that one or both may not be coming back, according to sources close to the multiple probes of the clinic.

Dr. Ricardo H. Asch left about three weeks ago for a speaking tour in Mexico and Europe, and Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda has been in his native Chile for two months, according to their attorneys. The attorneys insist the two doctors plan to return, even though they are not legally compelled to do so.

Asch’s tour had been planned for more than a year, according to his attorney, Ronald G. Brower.

“He still resides in the U.S. and his family is still here and he has an Orange County residence. He is planning on returning,” Brower said.

But two sources familiar with the investigations say they are afraid the doctors--who face a mound of civil suits, a medical board investigation and a criminal probe by the U.S. attorney’s office--have little incentive to come back. One said the fact that both doctors already have personal and financial ties abroad is worrisome.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Balmaceda’s long absence is of particular concern because he has cut most, if not all, his ties in the United States by selling his Corona del Mar home in July and leaving his Laguna Hills practice.

“I don’t think Dr. Balmaceda is ever coming back,” the source said.

“There is concern that both doctors have skipped out,” said another source, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

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In a nationally publicized scandal, Asch, Balmaceda and a third partner, Dr. Sergio C. Stone, have been accused by UC Irvine of stealing human eggs and embryos from patients and giving them to other women. They also are accused of financial wrongdoing, insurance fraud and research misconduct.

The Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Customs Service are looking into possible tax evasion, mail fraud and smuggling of unauthorized fertility drugs. The doctors have repeatedly denied any intentional wrongdoing. All told, at least seven agencies are conducting investigations of the now-closed Center for Reproductive Health.

In surprise raids last month, the U.S. attorney’s office and FBI led several agencies in searches of the doctors’ homes and offices, collecting everything from tax returns and checkbooks to patient records and a child’s personal computer. But no criminal charges have been filed against the three, leaving no possibility of extradition proceedings.

Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office have repeatedly declined to discuss whether such charges might be filed.

Short of criminal charges and extradition, it would be next to impossible to force the doctors to return, attorneys and other sources familiar with the case said.

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“As far as I know, this is still America,” said Patrick Moore, Balmaceda’s attorney. “People can’t go and snatch people or kidnap them and bring them back. When [Balmaceda] comes back it will be because he wants to.”

Moore said his client has not set a date for his return. He said Balmaceda has been busy attending to his mother, who is ill, and has gone to at least one professional conference in Europe. He conceded it is “very unlikely” that Balmaceda will resume his Laguna Hills practice because investigators have confiscated crucial patient records and because of the “difficulties the government and the University [of California] have made for him.”

Brower said Asch has been attending speaking engagements and conferences in Mexico and five European countries and he expects the physician to return within about five weeks. He said Asch’s recently opened practice in Santa Ana has been closed temporarily because the government seized all the patient files and has not allowed Asch to copy them.

“There is no effort to evade litigation,” he said. “If he was attempting to evade litigation, he wouldn’t hire lawyers to represent him. He has his lawyers here and he’s still paying them to represent him.”

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In Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, the issue of the two doctors’ absence surfaced when a judge ordered all three fertility specialists to show cause why they should not have to comply with a subpoena by the state auditor’s office to produce evidence in that agency’s probe of the clinic.

Karen Taillon, who represents Stone, told Judge Leonard Goldstein that in all likelihood her client would be the only one who could be personally served with the court’s order.

“We have to find them [the doctors], and that’s a matter of concern,” said Ann Campbell, manager of investigations for the state auditor in Sacramento. “We don’t known where they are.”

There are alternative ways to serve legal papers, besides in person, but those methods tend to be cumbersome and may take more time than the judge has allowed. A hearing on the judge’s order was set for Dec. 15.