A woman who wanted to work at a nightclub started searching for someone who could perform plastic surgery cheaply to give her a curvier figure. She found someone posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant, police said.
The suspect — who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman — apparently performed the surgery on herself, and may have victimized others, investigators say. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested Friday after a year on the lam and faces a charge of practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury.
Police photos show Morris as a woman with pouty lips, arched eyebrows, oversized hoop earrings and a large backside. Morris was released from jail on bail.
Miami Gardens police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Sunday that Morris bounced from house to house for a year, driving a black Mercedes and staying out of investigators’ sight “like a ghost.” An officer drove by one of those houses nearly every day on his way to work and saw the car outside Friday. He arrested Morris soon after.
The victim paid $700 for injections in May 2010. She was referred to Morris by a friend.
Morris injected some type of tubing in several sites around her bottom, pumping it full of the toxic concoction. Morris reassured the woman when the pain became too intense, police said.
Bamford said the victim was reluctant to come forward. She went to two South Florida hospitals due to severe abdominal pain and infected sores on her buttocks, accompanied by flu-like symptoms. But she left each time, too embarrassed to tell doctors what she’d done.
The Miami Herald said the woman ultimately was treated at Tampa General Hospital, which alerted the Florida Department of Health. Citing patient privacy, a Tampa General spokeswoman said Sunday she could not confirm the report.
Authorities believe there are other victims who may be too embarrassed to come forward.
Times staff writer Dan Sullivan contributed to this report.
St. Petersburg Times
