Woman Admits To Injecting Silicone Into Customers
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Cosmetic surgery on the black market. A woman with no medical license admits to injecting customers with toxic materials in Baltimore and across the country.
Kai Jackson has more on this disturbing case.
Kimberly Smedley, 45, pleaded guilty to a crime that prosecutors say nearly killed an exotic dancer in Baltimore.
Prosecutors say Smedley, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Maryland to a bizarre and potentially deadly crime.
"She was charging people up to $1,500 to inject silicone in them in an effort to improve their appearance," said Rod Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney.
Prosecutors say Smedley operated a big business in several major U.S. cities, giving customers injections of silicone in their butts on hotel beds. Authorities say Smedley---who's not licensed---lied to recipients, saying the silicone was for medical use, like the kind found in breast implants, but it was actually industrial-grade silicone, used for things like lubrication, paint and even auto polish.
She pleaded guilty to using a misbranded drug.
"You can't just buy silicone at your local hardware store and inject it into somebody's body," Rosenstein said.
Authorities say one of Smedley's victims was a woman who's an exotic dancer on Baltimore's famed block. The injections sent her to the hospital.
Prosecutors say Smedley used syringes to inject the silicone, then applied super glue with cotton balls to the skin to stop it from leaking.
She apparently netted $200,000 over eight years.
Prosecutors say since 2003, Smedley bought nearly 5,000 pounds of industrial silicone, which cost more than $20,000.
