Fugitive Fertility Doctor on the Run Again?

The UC Irvine fertility doctor arrested last month in Argentina after eluding authorities for five years did not appear for a court hearing Friday following his release on $10,000 bail, raising concerns among federal prosecutors that he has fled once again.

U.S. Justice Department officials said the whereabouts of Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda, one of three doctors suspected in a fertility clinic scandal at UCI, is unknown and said they have asked Argentine authorities to search for him. They expressed disappointment with the Argentine judge’s decision to release Balmaceda over the objections of local federal prosecutors.

“We went to great lengths, and the Argentines worked very hard to get him,” said John Russell, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman. “And the judge wouldn’t buy it.”

Balmaceda, 53, faces mail fraud and tax evasion charges in the U.S. in connection with UCI’s fertility clinic scandal. The scandal involves doctors who allegedly took human eggs and embryos from women without their consent and implanted them in other women.

Balmaceda had evaded authorities for five years by practicing in his native Chile, where U.S. officials could not extradite him. Last month during a trip to neighboring Argentina, Balmaceda was arrested at an airport after being spotted by customs officials.

At his bail hearing, Balmaceda was ordered not to travel and to report for an extradition hearing on Friday. When Balmaceda didn’t appear, local prosecutors immediately asked the judge to issue an order for his detention and for federal police to launch a search.

Paul Raymond, Balmaceda’s Newport Beach-based attorney, said that he had spoken with his client several times in the past two weeks and that Balmaceda had been staying at a house in Buenos Aires. He said Balmaceda is not a flight risk and is not guilty of the alleged crimes.

U.S. federal prosecutors, however, are concerned that Balmaceda may return to Chile.

“We have asked the Argentine authorities to act urgently to rearrest and detain this notorious fugitive,” said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

“Until Balmaceda is found, the Department of Justice intends to use all means available to locate him and to secure his lawful extradition to the United States to stand trial on the charges against him.”

News of Balmaceda’s disappearance did not surprise Melanie Blum, an attorney who represented families in litigation against the fertility clinic. The low bail amount, she said, suggested that Argentine authorities were unwilling to extradite him.

“It tells you that they had no intention of ever having him return to the U.S.” she said.

Balmaceda and a fellow physician, Dr. Ricardo H. Asch, were indicted in 1996 by a federal grand jury stemming from their work at fertility clinics in Orange and San Diego counties from 1986 to 1995.

Balmaceda faces charges stemming from an alleged scheme to bilk medical insurance companies for fertility treatments. Asch was also accused of harvesting some women’s eggs and giving them secretly to other patients. In some cases, couples bore children conceived from the eggs of other women without the knowledge of the genetic parents, authorities said.

A third physician who ran the clinic, Dr. Sergio C. Stone, was convicted in 1997 of fraudulently billing insurance companies. He was fined $50,000 and ordered to serve a year of home detention.

Both Asch and Balmaceda left the country before the indictments--Asch to Mexico, Balmaceda to Chile. Prosecutors are preparing to file extradition papers for the return of Asch, who they believe is running a fertility clinic in Mexico City.

FBI agents seeking Balmaceda had spent the last two years tracking him in the hope they could seize him if he left that country.

Last May, federal agents received tips that Balmaceda planned to travel to Argentina and Panama for conferences and other engagements. U.S. officials then filed provisional arrest warrants in those countries requesting authorities to detain the doctor should he visit.