Dec 4, 2006 6:19 pm US/Pacific
3 Arrested For Aiding Unlicensed Doctor
Clients Include Celebrities
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Four women who provide skin care for Beverly Hills elite are facing federal charges for allegedly sending clients to a man who claimed to give injections of a permanent anti-wrinkle substance -- but who was really using dangerous liquid silicone, prosecutors said Monday.
Those charged include a facialist at a Beverly Hills spa, who allegedly held about 10 injection parties at her home, according to affidavits filed in the case. At the parties, 15-30 clients sipped cocktails and were injected with silicone that Daniel Tomas Fuente Serrano smuggled into the country in large, unmarked plastic bottles, the affidavits state.
After Serrano's November 2004 arrest, lab analysis of bottles seized by investigators was consistent with the type of industrial-grade silicone used to lubricate auto parts, while the contents of other bottles and syringes appeared consistent with some standards for both industrial and medical-grade silicone, which is used for some eye surgeries, but is not approved as a wrinkle filler, according to court papers.
The facialist, Dangene McKay-Bailey, 48, was arrested Monday on federal charges of aiding and abetting, as was Beverly Hills esthetician Karen Factor, 51, and Yelena Aleksandrovna Nesterenko, 49, who, according to court papers, performed cosmetic tattoos in a Wilshire Boulevard apartment.
A fourth woman, esthetician Tamara Berkovich, 58, is also charged with aiding and abetting Serrano, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. She was out of town and was not arrested today.
Serrano -- who went by "Dr. Daniel" and said he was licensed as a doctor in Argentina -- was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on charges related to the illegal injections.
He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, as well as one count related to the receipt of illegally imported merchandise, and one count for receiving an adulterated device in interstate commerce.
Prosecutors have said Serrano, who is not licensed to practice medicine in California, charged thousands of dollars to give the injections of what he claimed was Artecoll -- a wrinkle-filling substance distributed by a Dutch company that has yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In addition to the injections of what was really silicone, patients sometimes paid Serrano to inject Botox, according to court papers.
Among those who received injections from Serrano, court papers state, were Lionel Richie and his then-wife, Diane.
At the time of Serrano's arrest, prosecutors also charged Diane Richie with aiding and abetting for allegedly allowing him to use her bathroom in the couple's Beverly Hills house as an unlicensed clinic of sorts for the injections.
The house manager for the Richie home told investigators that between July and December 2003, between 20 and 40 people came to the residence to see "Dr. Daniel," according to court papers.
Serrano's other clients included the wife of talk show host Larry King, according to court papers.
Shawn King told investigators Serrano also used her house to give injections to several other women and claimed to have developed complications from the anti-wrinkle injections, such as a lump on her lip, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Fellow Beverly Hills resident Ellen Levinthal developed "holes" in her face after receiving injections, the affidavit states.
Both Lionel Richie and King told investigators they were unaware Serrano was not a licensed doctor in California.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
