Maryland Woman Sentenced For Illegally Injecting Clients With Industrial Grade Silicone

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Kendra Westmoreland of Randallstown, MD received a two-year prison sentence following her plea to injecting non-medical grade silicone into people for fifteen years. Following her time in prison, Westmoreland will have a one year period of supervision and she must pay a $2,500 fine.

According to her plea agreement, Westmoreland admitted to injecting clients in her home and other locations over a 15 year period with polydimethylsiloxane, misrepresenting it to them as medical grade silicone. Polydimethylsiloxane is used in the manufacturing of shampoos (to make hair shiny and slippery), food (as an antifoaming agent), caulking, lubricants, kinetic sand, and heat-resistant tiles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not approved liquid silicone or silicone gel for injection to fill wrinkles or augment tissues anywhere in the body. The potential health risks from having silicone injected into the body include embolism, migration of injected silicone to other regions of the body, formation of granulomas, necrosis, pain or death.

When authorities executed a search warrant on October 4, 2015, they found a room in Westmoreland’s house set-up to resemble an operating room, including medical equipment and pictures of people exposing their buttocks as examples of her work. Westmoreland’s cellular phone contained 126 clients. A financial audit revealed that from December 2011 to October 2015, Westmoreland made $276,795.07 in deposits while making no tax payments or filing any tax returns during the same period.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the Baltimore County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok prosecuted the case.