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Woman Offering 'Vampire Facelifts' Arrested After Customer Dies
A massage therapist who ran an unlicensed and creepy "vampire facelift" operation in the back of a Long Beach salon was arrested yesterday after a customer's mysterious death.
Sandra Gonzalez, who worked at Areli's Beauty Salon in Long Beach, is accused of performing the vampire facelifts, which is illegal without a license, City News Service reports. Vampire facelifts are non-surgical procedures that involve injecting your own blood cells back into your skin as a way to rejuvenate your face. With a price tag that ranges from $900 to $1500, it's a procedure that is as expensive as it is relatively obscure. Lately, the procedure has had notable clients such as Bar Rafaeli and Kim Kardashian.
Police responded to the salon after getting a call about a customer who went into cardiac arrest. That customer, Hamilet Suarez, 36, died when taken to a nearby hospital. Employees initially told the cops that Suarez collapsed before a scheduled massage, but after hearing conflicting accounts from Gonzalez, police looked into her room and found out about her operation.
"Inside the treatment room, detectives found medical equipment and multiple vials of controlled substances which were used for these medical procedures," police said in a statement.
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The California Medical Board and homicide detectives are looking into Suarez's death, which has been described by police as "suspicious."
Police believe Gonzalez had been doing these facelifts, as well as lip and butt augmentations, for about a month.
Gonzalez was arrested and booked on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance, where she remains in jail on a $10,000 bond. Detectives Scott Lasch and Donald Goodman are on the case, and anyone who may have received a procedure from Gonzalez is urged to call 562-570-7244.
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