Families Take Legal Action Against Fertility Doctor Accused of Unlawfully Storing Embryos in Secret Location

A fertility specialist from California is under legal fire as several former patients have initiated a lawsuit, accusing him of unlawfully retaining their embryos and denying their return.

Attorney Robert Marcereau represented 26 families at a press conference on Tuesday that was carried by several local media outlets, telling the media that fertility specialist Dr. Brian Acacio had been evicted from his office in Laguna Niguel after failing to pay rent for a year. In December 2025, Acacio shuttered his clinic, “secretly rounded up all of his patients” embryos, loaded them into a truck, and drove them four hours north to Bakersfield,” the lawsuit says.

The legal complaint, accessed by KCBS, a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, reveals that the doctor, Acacio, had his medical license suspended due to alleged substance abuse. Despite the suspension, effective December 30, 2025, Acacio allegedly continued his practice. Marina Reyes, one of the plaintiffs, shared with KCBS that Acacio conducted “a pretty invasive ultrasound” on January 2.

Another patient, Christina Chandler, recounted at a press conference that during a fluid ultrasound, she observed Acacio with “an IV in his arm.”

Prior to the full suspension, Acacio’s license was under an interim order imposing restrictions as of October 8, 2025. The lawsuit details that following this interim order, leading up to December, patients encountered numerous issues including “IVF treatment delays, medication and scheduling errors, unexpected clinic operational disruptions, billing disputes, and difficulties related to embryo storage, transfer, and release.”

The lawsuit primarily seeks the return of the embryos that were under Acacio’s control. By December 2025, the lawsuit states that Acacio faced eviction from his office due to $243,000 in unpaid rent. Allegedly, he vacated his office without informing his patients, taking the embryos to an undisclosed location in Bakersfield, California.

Marcereau said at the press conference, “To this day, we do not know exactly where those embryos are or whether they are safe.”

He said Acacio was “holding these patients’ embryos hostage” and refusing to give them back to the families unless they agreed to sign a document “absolving him of any responsibility for his conduct.”

Berenice Cervantes, another one of Acacio’s patients, told Los Angeles-based Nexstar affiliate KTLA, “It’s like a hostage situation. I feel like they were kidnapped. I don’t know where they are, we don’t know where they are,” referring to the embryos.

The families who joined the lawsuit are seeking a court order to force the return of their embryos.

Acacio declined Law&Crime’s request for comment, citing the ongoing litigation.