No Surrender in O.C. Butch and Sundance

Their names are Asch and Balmaceda, but in modern Orange County history they’re as close as we’ve got to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

That is, by the standard definition, they’re outlaws. Not only that, they’re outlaws on the lam. And in a touch that Butch and Sundance would have appreciated (they fled to Bolivia), Ricardo Asch and Jose Balmaceda left America in 1995 for Mexico and Chile, respectively.

Like their 19th century Old West counterparts, Asch and Balmaceda generate both idolatry and scorn, depending on whom you talk to. As two of the three doctors who ran a fertility clinic at UC Irvine until 1995, Asch and Balmaceda helped infertile couples have children.

For that, they became heroes.

Not long after, they became fugitives.

Last week, Balmaceda slipped through the hands of the law again, this time in Argentina, where he’d been arrested in January. But after an Argentine judge set bail at a paltry $10,000, Balmaceda didn’t show up for an extradition hearing on Friday.

The legend grows.

From afar, here in Orange County, a group of parents served by the clinic still follows their exploits and applauds them.

“I talked to Dr. Asch [by phone] last week,” James Jones says. “This is still very much on his mind.”

Jones, 45, is an electrical engineer and the father of twin 5-year-old girls resulting from his and his wife’s involvement with the clinic.

“Dr. Asch is interested in getting himself vindicated,” Jones says. “He does believe he will be vindicated of all charges, and he does plan to return to the U.S. when he is. I haven’t talked to Balmaceda, but I know through his attorneys he continues to pay them to earn his vindication.”

A Lot of History, a Long Trail

In 1995, scandal erupted publicly at UC Irvine’s Center for Reproductive Health, amid allegations that eggs that produced children were implanted in women without the donors’ knowledge or permission. Various other charges stemmed from that, and after the clinic closed in 1995 and the federal government wanted to take Asch and Balmaceda to trial, they fled.

The third physician, Sergio Stone, stayed here. Unlike his former partners, he never was linked to thefts of eggs or embryos. He was convicted of mail fraud, resulting from some billings at the clinic. The government wanted jail time, but a federal judge sentenced him only to a year’s home detention and a $50,000 fine.

It’s also worth noting that the state medical board decided not to revoke Stone’s license. Moreover, a UCI faculty panel reviewed the allegations against him and recommended only a demotion, not dismissal. The panel pointedly said it had fully expected to favor dismissal--until, that is, it reviewed the facts. UCI, however, still fired Stone.

The allegations against Asch and Balmaceda are more serious than those against Stone. But they have protested their innocence as vigorously as did Stone, saying clerical mistakes accounted for misplaced eggs.

When I ask Jones how vindication can happen in the doctors’ absence, he suggests that something along the lines of a legal settlement could resolve things.

“Let’s not confuse why they’re not in the country,” he says. “They’re not here so they can actually pay for their defense, which both continue to do.”

A number of civil cases involving the misappropriation of embryos are pending against the two doctors. Dozens of other cases involving misappropriated eggs have been settled by UCI and the families.

Federal charges involving the alleged theft of eggs, mail fraud and income tax evasion also are pending against the two fugitive doctors.

If the two returned, Jones notes, they’d be arrested and unable to work. Of Balmaceda’s failure to appear in court last week, Jones says, “Hopefully, he’s gone back to Chile [to work] so he can continue to defend himself.”

Jones says his group, which eventually numbered about 100 people, not only understands why the doctors fled, it encouraged them. He insists his personal loyalty to the doctors isn’t based on gratitude for helping him and his wife have children.

Not that he doesn’t feel it.

“We were an older couple when we decided to have kids,” he says. “My wife had gone to three other infertility doctors who had turned her down, because they didn’t want to risk working with a woman of her age [early 40s]. Asch took all the tough cases. He cared about you as an individual. He knew who you were, he didn’t need to look at a chart. He could look at your face and know who you were.”

Jones wants the two doctors vindicated.

If only the judge in Argentina hadn’t virtually guaranteed that Balmaceda would skip, we might be closer to finding out if they will be.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821; by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.