A Long Beach man whose wife died while having a cosmetic treatment to augment her buttocks nearly a year ago is suing the Long Beach-based salon where the procedure took place, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Carlos Garcia filed the wrongful death suit against Areli’s Barber Shop & Beauty Salon, located at 2113 Pacific Avenue, as well as Sandra Perez Gonzalez (pictured left), who was unlicensed to perform medical or cosmetic procedures and was arrested last year in connection with the incident.

The suit alledges that Garcia’s wife, 36-year-old Hamilet Suarez, went into the salon on Feb. 12 and was injected with “controlled substances” by Gonzalez 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.

During the vampire facelift procedure, a patient’s own blood is re-injected into areas of the skin to treat wrinkles or augment certain parts of the body.

After the treatment, Suarez called Garcia around 11:00AM to inform him that she was feeling ill and a 911 call was made on her behalf, according to the lawsuit.

Long Beach Police said in a February 2014 statement that they were originally told Suarez had gone into the salon for a massage but went into cardiac arrest before the massage began. Conflicting reports of the incident, however, resulted in homicide detectives responding to the scene.

Medical equipment and multiple vials of substances used for facelifts and augmentations were found in Gonzalez’s room at the salon, the lawsuit states.

The suit also alleges that the salon’s owner knew Gonzalez was performing procedures she was not qualified to perform at the salon for about a month before Suarez’s death and “did nothing to stop her.”

Attempts to reach Gonzalez have been unsuccessful, and the phone number for Areli’s Barber Shop & Beauty Salon has been disconnected. No further information is currently available. We will update this story as we learn more.

City News Service contributed to this report.