BROWNSVILLE Federal authorities say a man who posed as a doctor was part of a scheme that used stem cells from the umbilical cords of women at a border maternity clinic to prey on the hopes of patients with incurable diseases.

A 19-page indictment unsealed this week accuses Francisco Dr. Frank Morales, 52, of Brownsville and co-defendants including the owner of a maternity clinic in Del Rio and a researcher in South Carolina of netting at least $1.5 million from procedures Morales performed in Mexico on patients he met in the United States.

Birth mothers at the Maternity Care Clinic were told their umbilical cords were being donated to a research facility.

Instead, they were sent to the researcher to extract stem cells that were sold to Global Laboratories, LLC, in Scottsdale, Ariz., which then sold them to Morales for his unauthorized procedures, the indictment alleges.

Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Morales Dec. 22 in Brownsville. He is to be arraigned in Houston, where the case is pending. Court records show he waived his right to a court-appointed attorney.

Clinic owner and licensed midwife Alberto Ramon, 48, of Del Rio, and researcher Vincent Dammai, 40, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., were arrested Tuesday. A warrant was also issued for Lawrence Stowe, 58, of Dallas, who has been charged in relation to the case and is considered a fugitive.

According to the National Institutes on Health, stem cells are unspecialized cells that can renew themselves and as such hold the promise of repairing or replacing worn-out or damaged tissue. But the research is young, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any stem cell therapies.

The indictment demonstrates the commitment of the FDA to protect the American public from the harms inherent in being exposed to unapproved new drugs, FDA Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Holland said in a news release announcing the indictment Wednesday. The FDA will continue to aggressively pursue perpetrators of such acts and ensure they are punished to the full extent of the law.

Morales traveled the United States representing himself as an expert on stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood, falsely claiming he was affiliated with stem cell research at Duke, Harvard, and UCLA.

He told one patient, identified in court papers as M.E., that his treatment would drastically improve her symptoms from multiple sclerosis.

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Fake Brownsville doctor arrested in stem cell scheme