A husband and wife were arrested on charges related to practicing medicine without a license after a botched buttocks-enhancing procedure on a female patient, Hialeah Police said.
Pedro Hernandez, 57, and Samela Hernandez, 53, were arrested Tuesday at their home at 3143 W. 70th St. in Hialeah, according to police. They said they found a large amount of medical equipment, supplies and medicines indicative of “an illegal medical practice” during their search.
“We had received a complaint from a victim, (a) patient, who said she had received medical treatment at this location, and she said the procedure was botched and she had to go to Colombia and get a surgeon to repair it,” police spokesman Carl Zogby said.
Police said the couple does not have a medical license, but was offering butt-enhancement procedures at their home. Detectives claim that Samela Hernandez had the substance bottled in Colombia as massage wax and shipped to her.
Three victims have come forward, police said, but they said they believe that many more are out there.
No one answered the door Thursday at the couple’s residence. Neighbors said they were shocked to learn what allegedly happened inside the home.
“They've always been very quite, very nice people, but I had no idea nothing was happening in that house,” Diego del Rio said.
The story comes on the heels of the unrelated arrest of Oneal Morris, a transgender woman who is accused of injecting toxic concoctions which included Fix-a-Flat into people and causing at least one death.
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In the Hialeah case, police said they found an entire makeshift clinic inside the home that was stocked with syringes, medical equipment and over 200 blank prescriptions.
Pedro Hernandez faces numerous charges including one count of unlicensed practice of the health care profession causing serious injury, two counts each of practicing medicine without a license and attempting to obtain a contaminated substance by fraud, and 201 counts of possession of blank prescription forms, according to an arrest affidavit.
Samela Hernandez faces the same charges, according to her affidavit. It was not immediately known whether she or her husband have an attorney.
Police said they consider anyone who has been treated by the defendants to be a victim, and urged such patients to call them at 305-687-2525.
