Texas officials announce third arrest in illegal abortion case involving Houston-area woman
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Another arrest has been made in connection to a case in which several people are accused of providing illegal abortions at several Houston-area clinics.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the additional arrest on Tuesday, bringing the total number of people charged to three.
One of the suspects is identified as 48-year-old Maria Rojas. The state attorney general's office said she was arrested in Waller County and is charged with illegal performance of an abortion and with practicing medicine without a license.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Houston-area woman arrested for providing illegal abortions, state attorney general's office says
Some of those procedures included abortions, which are mostly illegal in Texas.
Officials said Rojas operates several clinics in Waller, Spring, and Cypress and previously worked as a midwife.
The other two arrests include 29-year-old Jose Ley, a medical assistant and employee of Rojas, and 54-year-old Rubildo Matos, a nurse practitioner.
Paxton added that Matos' license is currently on probation by the Board of Nursing, and he is charged with conspiracy to practice medicine without a license.
Court documents released on Tuesday afternoon reveal a source tipped off state investigators making claims Rojas was conducting abortions illegally at her clinic to women who didn't have medical complications and charging between $800 and $1,300.
"She was all about life, not death," the Owner of Tomball Birth Center, Holly Shearman, said.
In disbelief, Tomball Birth Center Owner Holly Shearman says she's known Maria Rojas for years.
Shearman says for the last six weeks, Rojas has made prenatal appointments at her facility and has assisted in some deliveries in the past, so the news of her arrest and subsequent allegations come as a shock.
"The Maria I know is a devout Catholic, and we never talked about abortion. It just never came up. It's not what we do as midwives. She loved life," Shearman said.
New court documents reveal investigators believe Rojas and her employee Jose Ley conducted an abortion earlier this month.
Investigators say a woman identified as E.G. in documents says she got an abortion at one of Rojas's clinics in early March after she was told she only had a 9% chance of her pregnancy being successful and that medical complications would arise.
During a search warrant, authorities say they found misoprostol in Rojas's car, a drug commonly used to induce abortions.
On top of all of that, this investigation stemmed from a source in January alerting the Texas Health and Human Services Commission about two other abortions they claim happened at Rojas Clinca Waller Latinoamericana.
"Part of me worries about, you know, her being targeted. She is a citizen, but she's an immigrant, and she advertises to the low-income Spanish-speaking population. So, it kind of feels like targeting, but I don't know for sure. That's why I'm like, 'Why Maria?'" Shearman said.
Although authorities say Rojas has a midwife license, ABC13 was told she does not have a medical license, and neither does Ley.
A third employee, Rubildo Labanino Matos, has also been arrested regarding this situation.
Authorities say along with the arrests, a temporary restraining order to shut down Rojas's network of clinics has now also been filed.
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