A Los Angeles mother and daughter were each sentenced to four years in prison Thursday for the manslaughter of an aspiring porn star who performed illegal butt lift surgery.
Libby Adam, 53, and Alicia Galaz, 26, appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court and were found guilty in connection with the death of 26-year-old South African actress Carissa Radipole.
Rajpaul, an aspiring adult film star, died in hospital hours after Adam and Galaz injected liquid silicone into her buttocks at their Los Angeles home in October 2019.
Mother and daughter appeared in court for sentencing with perfectly coiffed hairdos and striking suits, with Adam wearing camel color and Galaz wearing hot pink.
Both men looked pale as they were handcuffed by deputies and taken to jail.
Until their arrest in August 2021, the pair operated a business offering discounted plastic surgery to women in their patients’ homes, even though they were not trained or licensed to perform the procedure. Was.
Prosecutors said Adam and Galaz provided butt lifts to hundreds of customers.
Rajpaul had undergone two similar hip surgeries from women before the fatal encounter. She even posted a video of herself undergoing her surgery on social media after moving to California from South Africa in search of her job.
Adam and Galaz charged between $3,500 and $4,000 for the Radipole procedure, while an academically certified butt lift would cost between $10,000 and $15,000. According to NBC4.
During the third surgery, Rypaul quickly became ill and lost consciousness as chemicals entered his bloodstream and caused an embolism.
When complications arose during the surgery, Adam and Galaz called 911 and mercilessly left the house. First responders arrived and took Rajpaul to the hospital, where he died later that day.
“The suspects fled the scene without specifying the nature of the cosmetic surgery and without informing emergency personnel.[…] “As a result, the victim died in the emergency room along with doctors who were unaware of the silicone injection,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement after the two were charged.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton added, “These people have no medical training. They are inexperienced and they are putting people’s lives at risk.”
The exact cause of death was later determined to be acute cardiopulmonary insufficiency and intramuscular/intravascular silicone injection.
Prosecutors argued that both men should have known about the dangers of silicone injections because Galaz worked at a salon where another patient died from a butt lift procedure performed by one of her co-workers in 2018. Newsweek reported.
Defense lawyer Nareg Gurdjan told the jury the pair had no ill will towards Rajpaul and were unaware of the danger.
“Do you think killing people is the way to succeed in business?” he said, according to the Orange County Register.
“They wanted to do a good job.”
Silicone injections are not approved for use in cosmetic procedures in the United States, and the Food and Drug Administration has been warning about them since at least 2017.
“Silicone injections can cause serious injuries including long-term pain, infection, scarring and permanent disfigurement, and embolism. [blockage of a blood vessel]stroke and death,” the regulator said.
It is estimated that 1 in 3,000 patients die as a result of undergoing a “Brazilian butt lift.”
Known as BBL after the nationality of the doctor credited with inventing the procedure, the procedure typically involves injecting fat into the buttocks to reshape and add volume.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, this procedure has the highest mortality rate of any cosmetic surgery procedure.
Adam and Galaz were initially charged with second-degree murder, but were later charged with the misdemeanor charge of manslaughter after a jury determined the mother and daughter did not act maliciously when they injected the victim. It was lowered to
Adam was also found guilty of three counts of practicing medicine without a license, and Galaz was found guilty of two counts of the same offense. Both women have pleaded not guilty.
The jury reached its verdict after about seven hours of deliberation.
