Press Release
FAKE PLASTIC SURGEON INDICTED ON MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES FOR PERFORMING PROCEDURE ON 31-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WHO DIED AFTER IMPLANT REMOVAL
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Felipe Hoyos Foronda has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of manslaughter, assault and unauthorized practice of a profession for allegedly performing cosmetic surgery without a license in his Astoria home. The 31-year-old victim, Maria Penaloza, went into cardiac arrest and died 14 days later.
District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, Felipe Hoyos Foronda provided an unlicensed medical treatment at a make-shift home clinic in Astoria that led to a 31-year-old woman’s death. On March 28, the victim went into cardiac arrest after having been injected with lidocaine as part of a botched surgical procedure. Unfortunately, Maria Penaloza, a mother of two, passed away two weeks later. My thoughts are with the victim’s family as we seek justice on her behalf.”
DA Katz encourages anyone who may have utilized the defendant’s services or visited the makeshift medical office on 35th Street in Astoria to contact NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Anyone seeking medical or cosmetic treatments is urged to first check the credentials of the provider with the New York State Education Department Office of the Professions.
Hoyos Foronda, 37, of 35th Street in Astoria, was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with manslaughter in the second degree, assault in the second degree and one count of unauthorized practice of a profession.
Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant ordered him to return to court June 3. If convicted, he faces up to five to 15 years in prison.
DA Katz said that according to the charges and investigation, Maria Penaloza, 31, arrived at Hoyos Foronda’s Astoria apartment at approximately 1 p.m. on March 28 to have silicone buttock implants removed. She was accompanied by a friend who waited in the apartment’s living room while Penaloza went into an adjacent room for the procedure.
Hoyos Foronda is alleged to have given the victim lidocaine, which is a local anesthetic, and saline through a syringe. Penaloza became lightheaded and Hoyos Foronda administered an IV and called 911 when she did not improve.
When the ambulance crew arrived, Penaloza was unconscious on a medical chair. She was taken to Mount Sinai Queens where she showed no sign of brain activity. She was removed from life support on April 11.
Hoyos Foronda, who does not have a license to practice medicine in the United States, was apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport by a Port Authority Police officer as he attempted to board a flight to Florida with an ultimate destination of Colombia.
A court-authorized search warrant of the defendant’s home found medical equipment including a metal IV stand, multiple injectables on the shelves, syringes, a box to discard needles and a binder with the names of individuals.
Assistant District Attorney Gregory Lasak, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Jennie Evangelista under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.
**Criminal complaints and indictments are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.