A woman accused of performing an illegal buttocks enhancement at a Long Beach beauty salon that led to a woman’s death in 2014 was sentenced to three years in jail today immediately after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter.
Sandra Yaneth Perez-Gonzalez, 48, performed the cosmetic procedure on Hamilet Suarez, 36, on February 12, 2014, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
Suarez died after undergoing the cosmetic work at the salon, Deputy District Attorney Lee Cernok, who prosecuted the case, said.
The defendant advertised various cosmetic procedures such as buttocks and lip enhancements and “vampire facelifts” and had previously performed a similar procedure on the victim’s family member, the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors previously charged Perez-Gonzalez with murder for the botched surgery, for which she pleaded not guilty in February.
PREVIOUSLY: UPDATE: Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge in 2014 Botched Cosmetic Procedure
2/20/17 at 1:53PM | A woman accused of performing an illegal buttocks enhancement at a Long Beach salon pleaded not guilty to a murder charge on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Long Beach resident Sandra Yaneth Perez-Gonzalez, 48, who also goes by Sandra Yaneth Slaughter, faces one count of murder, officials said.
Authorities said that on February 12, 2014 Hamilet Suarez, 36, of Long Beach died after undergoing an alleged cosmetic work at a Long Beach beauty salon.
“The defendant, who is not a licensed doctor, is alleged to have advertised various cosmetic procedures such as buttocks and lip enhancements and ’vampire facelifts,’” according to the prosecutor.
Her bail was set at $2 million. She faces a possible maximum sentence of life in state prison, if convicted as charged.
She is scheduled to appear at the Long Beach Superior Courthouse on March 15 for a preliminary hearing.
PREVIOUSLY: Woman Re-Arrested for 2014 Death of Customer During Botched Cosmetic Procedure
2/15/17 at 5:06PM | A woman who at one time illegally performed cosmetic procedures at a Long Beach beauty salon was re-arrested Tuesday in connection with the 2014 death of a customer who went into cardiac arrest under her care, Long Beach police said today.
48-year-old Long Beach resident Sandra Yaneth Slaughter (previously referred to as her alias Sandra Perez Gonzalez) was booked for murder when police arrested her yesterday for the death of 36-year-old Hamilet Suarez, also a Long Beach resident, during a cosmetic treatment at Areli’s Beauty Salon, located at 2113 Pacific Avenue, on February 12, 2014.
Slaughter is in the custody of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) with a bail set at $2 million, according to a release from the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD).
She was initially arrested the day after the customer’s death for the possession of controlled substances but was released the next day “after it was determined she needed medical treatment,” said LBPD spokeswoman Marlene Arrona.
That arrest was the result of detectives investigating the suspicious circumstances surrounding Suarez’s death during which they discovered medical equipment and multiple vials of chemicals in a treatment room Slaughter rented inside the Wrigley Village salon.
Authorities previously said that officers were called to the salon at around noon to assist Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) personnel performing CPR on Suarez who was in cardiac arrest. Originally, officers were told that Suarez went to the salon to get a massage, but went into cardiac arrest before the massage began. Conflicting reports of the incident, however, prompted homicide detectives to respond to the scene.
Investigators said Slaughter was a licensed massage therapist who provided massages for her customers, however she also advertised providing vampire facelifts, butt augmentation and lip augmentation procedures—all things she was not licensed to perform. Slaughter had been performing the procedures at the salon in question for around a month during that time.
About a year after Suarez’s death, her husband filed a wrongful death suit against the salon and Slaughter.
The suit alleged that Suarez went into the salon on February 12 to augment her buttocks and was injected with “controlled substances” by Slaughter in a room the massage therapist rented at the salon to perform her advertised “vampire facelift” services, as well as other cosmetic procedures she was not licensed to perform.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Above, left photo of suspect. File photo.