2 women arrested for allegedly performing illegal, fatal cosmetic surgical procedure

VAN NUYS, Calif. (KCAL) – Two women in California are accused of murder after police say they performed an illegal and fatal butt lift procedure.

Libby Adame, 51, and her daughter Alicia Galaz, 23, were arrested on Monday. Detectives believe they performed the illegal procedure that killed 26-year-old Karissa Rajpaul in October 2019.

Investigators believe there may be other victims.

“These things are done by people with no training. There’s no standards, there’s no contingency if something goes wrong,” said Detective Robert Dinlocker with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Adame and Galaz have been doing the procedures out of homes since at least 2012 and charged nearly $14,000 for three sessions, according to investigators.

Rajpaul sent a video of her second session to her mother in South Africa to ease her worries.

She died after her third session.

“As a lot of our family members are, they’re totally blindsided by this,” Dinlocker said. “The cause of death was silicon embolism in the heart, brain and kidneys.”

Dr. John Timothy Katzen is a board-certified plastic surgeon. He said liquid silicone is essentially poison to the body and can be deadly if it gets into the arteries.

“Silicone is not meant to be injected into the buttocks or the breasts, period, and the FDA says that,” Katzen said.

Police say Adame and Galaz did call 911 in Rajpaul’s case but left immediately after paramedics arrived at the home where they were doing the procedure.

“They were aware two females had rushed out of the house and thought that was odd,” Dinlocker said.

Investigators say they’ve been getting calls from the women’s clients, saying they’re suffering from a range of complications.

They’re asking anyone with more information to call police.

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