MIAMI (AP) - A woman who wanted to work at a nightclub started searching for someone who could perform plastic surgery at a cheap price to give her a curvier body. Police say what she found was a woman posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant.
The suspect - who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman - apparently performed the surgery on herself, and investigators say she may have victimized others. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested Friday after a year on the lam and has been charged with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury.
Police photos show Morris as a small-framed woman with bee-stung pouty lips, arched eyebrows, oversized hoop earrings - and a large backside. She was released from jail on bond. A phone listing for Morris could not be found, and it's unclear if she has an attorney.
Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Sunday that Morris bounced from house to house for a year, driving a black Mercedes and staying out of investigators' sight "like a ghost." An officer drove by one of those possible houses nearly every day on his way to work and saw the car outside on Friday, and he arrested Morris soon after.
The victim, who is not being named due to medical privacy laws, paid $700 for a series of injections in May 2010. She was referred to Morris by a friend.
Morris injected some type of tube in several sites around her bottom, pumping it full of a toxic concoction. Morris reassured the woman when the pain became too intense, police said.
Bamford said Morris told the woman, "'Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. We just keep injecting you with the stuff and it all works itself out.'"
Bamford said the victim was reluctant to come forward. She quickly went to two South Florida hospitals due to severe abdominal pain and infected sores on her buttocks accompanied by flu-like symptoms. But she left each time, too embarrassed to tell doctors what she'd done.
Her mother eventually took her to a hospital on Florida's west coast, where alarmed doctors pressed her for information. They alerted the Department of Health.
"The doctors knew no licensed physician in his right mind would ever do this," Bamford said.
The victim is still recovering from the surgery and says it's too painful to work. She also has racked up numerous medical bills.
Authorities believe there are other victims who may be too embarrassed to come forward.
"(Morris) was readily introduced to our victim as someone who could help improve her shape, so we believe (she's) done this to other people," Bamford said.
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Transgendered woman Oneal Ron Morris (pictured) is accused of administering the potentially lethal injections to at least one victim. (From Daily Mail) |
<한글기사>
엉덩이 확대수술에 시멘트 주입...충격
엉덩이 확대 수술을 해주겠다며 환자의 엉덩이에 시멘트, 타이어 방수제 등을 채워넣은 미국의 가짜 의사가 1년여의 도피행각 끝에 덜미를 잡혔다.
영국 일간 데일리메일 인터넷판은 19일(현지시간) 최소한 한 명의 환자 엉덩이에 치명적인 주사를 놔 준 혐의로 오닐 론 모리스(30)라는 이름의 가짜 의사가 최근 경찰에 붙잡혔다고 보도했다.
사진상으로 모리스는 여자처럼 보이지만, 성전환수술을 한 남자이며 스스로도 엉덩이 확대 수술을 했다고 이 신문은 전했다.
플로리다 경찰에 따르면 모리스는 지난해 5월, 신원이 밝혀지지 않은 한 여성을 만나 시술 절차에 대해 상의를 했다. 미용목적으로 700달러에 엉덩이 확대수술을 하기로 한 것.
모리스는 그러나 시멘트가 포함된 주사를 연거푸 이 여성에게 주입했다고 경찰은 전했다. 시술을 위해 절개했던 부위는 강력 접착제로 봉합했다.
시술받은 여성은 곧바로 복부와 몸 전체에 걸쳐 심각한 통증을 느껴 병원을 찾았으며 급기야 폐렴 증상을 보이기도 했다.
당시 이 여성을 맡았던 의사는 여러 가지 증상으로 미뤄 무면허 의사의 시술에 따른 것으로 판단하고, 플로리다 보건 당국에 신고를 했다. 하지만 이 여성은 시술 받은 경위를 밝히길 꺼리며 사라진 것으로 알려졌다.
가짜 의사인 모리스는 결국 올해 5월 붙잡혔으며, 의료법 위반 혐의로 기소됐다.
