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Updated on: March 3, 2026 / 2:14 PM PST / CBS LA
Twenty-six couples have filed a lawsuit against an Orange County fertility doctor claiming he moved their embryos to an undisclosed location without their consent and is holding them hostage.
Rob Marcereau, the attorney representing the couples, claims Dr. Brian Acacio moved the families' embryos from one location to another after he faced eviction for unpaid rent.
Marcereau alleges that Acacio owed more than $240,000 in unpaid rent at his Laguna Nigel location. After facing eviction, he allegedly moved the embryos to an undisclosed location and refuses to return them.
"To this day, we do not know exactly where those embryos are or whether they are safe," Marcereau.
Marcereau added that when patients demanded the return of their embryos, Acacio refused, "stating he would not give back the embryos unless patients signed a document absolving him of any responsibility for his conduct."
"Dr. Acacio is holding these patients' embryos hostage," Marcereau said. "He is trying to leverage them for his own personal gain."
CBS LA has reached out to Acacio's attorney and the Acacio Fertility Clinic for a comment on the matter.
The complaint also alleges that Acacio failed to disclose to his patients that his medical license had been [suspended by the Medical Board of California](https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/8002/G/80390/ca85853b20b5b5c71af94c40e974d29c?fbclid=IwY2xjawQUHWZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFPWFZHTGFobUQ3NWJMblpSc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHqJx1yBUKPswWJ25smnl6E_xHB1tzZlMcWTwR7SYd4D_H_Xi7s9t5FnmyMno_aem_SxG2sg4-1Tuq-b0JEH-h5A) for allegedly abusing illegal drugs. Attorney Ben Ikuta claims that Acacio continued to perform medical procedures on patients while his license was suspended, including performing transfers and implanting embryos.
Marina Reyes, a former patient of Acacio, said she had several embryo transfer appointments rescheduled without reason. She said it wasn't until later on that she and her husband received an email from the fertility center saying, "for their safety, they decided to cancel any future appointments."
"That is when we decided to look him up online and realized he had a cease to practice since Dec. 30," Reyes said. "The issue there was that he performed an ultrasound on me, a pretty invasive ultrasound on me, on Jan. 2."
Ikuta said the primary goal of the lawsuit is to ensure that the embryos are safe and to get answers.
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