Florida woman sentenced to 11 years after killing and sickening victims with illegal silicone injections
Deanna Roberts, 47, of Sanford, Florida, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison after pleading guilty to "illegally injecting persons with liquid silicone and for introducing liquid silicone that was obtained by fraud into interstate commerce." Between April 2004 and December 2015, Roberts injected illegally obtained silicone into the hips, buttocks, and other body parts of her victims. One of her patients died in November 2015. At least 4 more were hospitalized because of serious complications.
Who: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia; the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations; the Doraville Police Department; and the Atlanta Police Department.
When: April 2004-December 2015
Where: Florida and Georgia
How: This case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, the Doraville Police Department, and the Atlanta Police Department.
Additional details: Roberts purchased at least 178 gallons of liquid silicone from an industrial supplier in Arizona, claiming the purchases were for lubricating medical equipment. She falsely claimed to her victims that she was a licensed medical professional using medical grade silicone and charged between $300 and $1,000 per treatment. An autopsy of Lateasha “Shuntel” Hall, the victim who died after Roberts injected her in 2015, revealed silicone in her lungs, liver, kidney, heart, brain, and spleen. The medical examiner concluded that Hall's death was caused by silicone travelling to her lungs and other organs after Roberts punctured a blood vessel with one of the injections.
Related sources:
Department of Justice, "Florida Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Causing the Death of One Victim and Hospitalization of Others by Injecting them With Liquid Silicone," May 26, 2017
Indictment, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, May 11, 2016.