A 48 year old woman has been charged with posing as a doctor and even performing abortions, many unsuccessfully in Chula Vista. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin after a year long investigation by Chula Vista Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department has been charged with 10 cases of felony including performing medical procedures without a license as well as grand theft. If convicted, Bertha could face more than nine years in prison.

Prosecutors said that Bertha operated six clinics that provided abortions in Southern California, and she performed abortions on several women at Clinica Medica de la Mujer in February and March charging up to $500 per abortion. Nine women, one of whom suffered severe complications, identified Bertha as the person who performed the abortions. The lady with the botched abortion had to be hospitalized three times and gave birth to a premature baby who survived for only three hours.

In a statement to the Associated Press, District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis said, Bugarin “preyed on women in the Hispanic community. By passing herself as a doctor, she put these women’s lives in serious danger,”

Chula Vista Police Chief Rick Emerson, who conducted the investigation, said, “The women were subjected to pain and risk of great bodily injury because of Bugarin’s lack of medical training.” Bugarin was being held on $500,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned July 2.