The owner of a beauty salon in Corona, Queens pleaded guilty today to nearly killing a client after she performed an illegal liposuction.
Barbara Nieto, 29, confessed to unlawfully practicing medicine and assault, according to the Queens district attorney.
Nieto, the owner of Perfect Image Stethics, removed fat from a client’s stomach in 2010 and then injected the fat into the woman’s buttocks. A week later, the woman nearly died from septic shock after the wounds became infected. She underwent life-saving surgery and was hospitalized for five days, said the DA.
Nieto did not hold a medical license. She will be sentenced to two years in prison and must pay $180,000. The DA said more than 100 other women have had similar procedures done at her beauty spa, mostly where Nieto would inject substances into their posteriors. But none of them were hospitalized.
“The defendant held out the false promise of being able to provide her victim with a more attractive appearance,” said Queens DA Richard Brown. “Instead, she nearly caused the death of the young woman.”
