A woman who owned six health clinics across Southern California faces up to nine years in prison for performing abortions while posing as a doctor in Chula Vista.
Bertha Bugarin, 48, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to nine felony counts of practicing medicine without a license and one felony count of grand theft.
Her plea on Wednesday came two days after she pleaded no contest to seven similar charges in Los Angeles County.
Bugarin was arrested in June after a yearlong investigation by Chula Vista police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
One of Bugarin's patients suffered complications from a procedure and had to be hospitalized twice, prosecutors said. She eventually delivered a baby who died three hours later.
The district attorney's office says Bugarin faces up to nine years in prison.
