A mother and daughter in California were arrested after police say the pair performed a series of illegal butt lift procedures that left at least one woman dead.
Libby Adame, 51, and her daughter,
Alicia Gomez, were taken into custody last month in connection with the death of 26-year-old
Karissa Rajpaul, an aspiring adult film actress who had recently moved to California from South Africa.
Prior to her death, Rajpaul posted a video to social media showing her lying on a table and undergoing the second of three butt augmentation operations allegedly performed by Adame, which took place inside of a private home in Encino, NBC Los Angeles
reported. Per the report, the second operation took place in September 2020. Rajpaul died immediately after the third operation.
LAPD Valley Bureau Homicide Detective
Bob Dinlocker told NBC Los Angeles that the duo, when performing the illegal surgery, allegedly injected Rajpaul with a deadly liquid silicon mixture that caused her death.
“The internet is filled with stories where they cut the medical-grade silicon with the stuff you would caulk your windows with,” Dinlocker said. “It hits the blood stream, attacks the heart, the brain and the kidneys.”
Dinlocker also noted that there may be more victims. An LAPD spokesperson reportedly said that there may be a “string of illegal butt lifts” stretching across all of Los Angeles County.
According to Dinlocker, the pair would travel to private homes, bringing medical supplies and other equipment to perform the surgeries without any emergency procedures or processes in place to mitigate risk or address complications. When such complications did arise, the duo would allegedly flee, abandoning the victim and leaving the problem to be dealt with by paramedics.
Advertising under the name “La Tia,” Adame and Gomez would allegedly charge between $3,500 and $4,500 per unlawful butt lift—a surgery that typically runs up to $15,000.
“These individuals have no medical training,” LAPD Deputy Chief
Alan Hamilton told ABC7, adding, “They’re not experienced and they’re putting people’s lives at risk.”
Hamilton also said the department was having difficulties identifying victims, many of whom he believes are too embarrassed to file a report with law enforcement authorities.
“We need these victims to come forward because we need to find out if there are other victims out there that are permanently disfigured or may have passed away as a result of some of these procedures and may have been a victim of a criminal act,” he said.
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