ferring these eggs to other barren women. The catch: The eggs were being transferred without the patients' consent, and some of the illegal transfers had resulted in live births.

Hospital roadblocks

Register reporters Kim Christensen, Michelle Nicolosi, Ernie Slone and Kelleher had to go to great lengths to obtain the medical records of the allegedly criminal procedures that the doctors were performing.

Some sources returned records anonymously by way of regular mail. Others used what investigations editor Jim Mulvaney called a "modern age Transom system," returning records to members of the team by way of self-addressed Federal Express envelopes. Kelleher even worked out a system where sources left records in the unlocked trunk of her car.

Once validated, the records were turned over to Slone, who, using Access and Paradox, built a database of patients who had donated or received eggs through procedures performed by the accused doctors. Some records clearly showed corruption, while others took more investigation. But without Slone's database, the information would have been unwieldy.

Use local resources

Slone's work was particularly handy when it came to identifying patients. Using local resources such as voter registration records, motor vehicle records and Social Security numbers, Slone was able to find matches for a good number of the patients in his database.

"When we went to these women, we were going to be changing their lives," said Mulvaney. "Most of the people didn't even know they were being victimized."

That meant the Register staff would have to make absolutely sure they were contacting the right women.

The team used commercial databases, such as CDB Infotek and Information America to further identify patients. This allowed them access to local census and advertising databases.

Slone was then able to target certain women, such as those between the ages of 25 and 45 and those in higher income neighborhoods, to find additional matches among them. These women were far more likely candidates for in vitro fertilization and could possibly afford the $10,000 price tag. The extra step helped save the reporters from the potential disaster of contacting the wrong patient. "It's the ultimate invasion of privacy," added Mulvaney. "You have to be relatively certain."

Caught in the web

As the team continued to follow the case, the reporters began posting their articles on the Register's World Wide Web site (http://www.ocregister.com).

They expected it to be an excellent resource for anyone who had heard about the case and wanted to know more. What they didn't expect was for it to help them locate Ricardo Asch, the primary doctor under investigation.

Asch and one of his partners had fled the country under the pressure of the Register articles and five federal probes into the allegations. The health minister of Mexico called saying he had seen the Register's Web site and knew that Asch was trying to apply for a license to practice in Mexico.

The team subsequently sent an undercover reporter to check out the story.

Not just for numbers

After eight months, the Register's project produced some startling numbers: 61 women were identified as fraud victims, 10 children were born from stolen eggs, and 32 patients had filed lawsuits against the doctors.

On Jan. 19, in Tijuana, Asch gave a four-day deposition in response to those lawsuits, and Slone drew on his computer-assisted instincts once again: He electronically transferred transcripts from the depositions to the Register, where they were entered into a text database program called askSam.

Reporters queried the database for specific information from the deposition. This afforded the Register a major advantage over the competition.

"We were able to get straight to the exact facts of the day," said Mulvaney, who helped edit the 300 pages of transcripts per day. "Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times' reporters were still writing off of the lawyers' claims."

Ernie Slone can be reached at (714) 835-1234, or send e-mail to eslone@link.freedom.com