IT’S ‘LIFT’ JUSTICE!
Kin get 4 years each for deadly butt-lift op
A Los Angeles mother and daughter were sentenced to four years in prison each on Thursday for the involuntary manslaughter of a porn-star wannabe they performed an illegal butt lift operation on.
Libby Adame, 53, and Alicia Galaz, 26, appeared at Los Angeles Superior Court where they were sentenced in connection with the death of Karissa Rajpaul, a 26year-old South African actress.
Rajpaul, an aspiring adult-film star, died at a hospital hours after Adame and Galaz injected her buttocks with liquid silicone at a home in Los Angeles in October 2019.
The mother and daughter appeared in court for sentencing with immaculately groomed hairstyles and striking suits, Adame’s in a camel color and Galaz’s in hot pink.
Both were ashen-faced as they were handcuffed and led off to be incarcerated.
Until their arrests in August 2021, the pair had operated a business offering plastic surgeries on women for cash at cut-rate prices in patients’ homes — despite not being trained or licensed to perform operations.
Prosecutors said Adame and Galaz offered the butt lifts to hundreds of customers.
Discount prices
Rajpaul had undergone two similar buttock procedures from the women before her fatal encounter. She even posted a video of herself to social media during one operation, after moving from South Africa to California in search of work.
Adame and Galaz charged Rajpaul $3,500 to $4,000 for her operation, whereas a board-certified butt lift would cost from $10,000 to $15,000, according to NBC4.
During the third procedure Raipaul immediately became ill and lost consciousness, as the chemicals entered her bloodstream and caused an embolism.
“The suspects fled the scene without identifying or informing the paramedics of the cosmetic procedure. . . As a result, the victim died in an emergency room with tending physicians unaware of the silicone injection,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement after the two were charged.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton added: “These individuals have no medical training. They’re not experienced and they’re putting people’s lives at risk.”
Prosecutors argued they should both have known about the dangers of silicone injections because Galaz had been working for a salon in 2018 when another patient died following a butt-lift procedure by one of her colleagues, Newsweek reports.
Defense attorney Nareg Gourjian told the jury the pair had no malice toward Rajpaul and were unaware of the risks.
“Do you think killing people is a way to build a successful business?” he said, according to The Orange County Register. “They wanted to do a good job.” Silicone injections are not approved for use in aesthetic procedures in the US and the Food and Drug Administration has warned against them since at least 2017.
“Silicone injections can lead to long-term pain, infections, and serious injuries, such as scarring and permanent disfigurement, embolism [blockage of a blood vessel], stroke, and death,” the FDA said.
It is estimated that as many as one in 3,000 patients have died as a result of undergoing a ‘Brazilian butt lift’.
The procedure, known as a BBL for the nationality of the doctor said to have invented it, usually involves injecting fat into the buttocks to re-shape them and add volume.