ABC News’ Alyssa Newcomb and Dan Childs report:
Another victim of the phony doctor who injected patients with a concoction of cement and fix-a-flat tire sealant as part of cut-rate, backroom beauty procedures has come forward, showing her face, which is now lumpy and misshapen from the injurious shots.
Rajee Narinesingh, who identifies as a woman, told CBS Miami she had heard about Oneal Ron Morris, who also identifies as a woman, by word of mouth in the transgender community.
“It becomes so dire that you want to match your outside with your inside that you’re willing to roll the dice and take your chances,” Narinesingh told CBS. “As a transgender person, you’re thinking ‘Oh, my God, I can start to look like I want to look like and I don’t have to spend a lot of money.’”
Narinesingh is one of a handful of victims who have come forward, saying that they paid Oneal hundreds of dollars to perform beauty procedures for them, which often took place in apartments.
The Florida Department of Health was first alerted after a botched-butt victim was treated at Tampa General Hospital after experiencing severe complications that doctors suspected were the result of an unlicensed practitioner.
“[A] short time later, [the victim] develops very serious pains, abdomen, throughout her body,” William Bamford, sergeant with the Miami Gardens Police Department, told ABC affiliate WPLG. “She knows something’s wrong.”
Bamford said the woman had an infection at the wound site with the drug-resistant bug MRSA, and she had also developed pneumonia. Even then, Bamford said, the woman was not forthcoming with doctors regarding the source of her symptoms.
The woman left the hospital before investigators could learn more about her case.
It was not until March 2011 that investigators in South Florida were able to piece together enough of what happened to track down and arrest Morris in North Lauderdale, Fla., a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Morris was charged with practicing medicine without a license and causing bodily harm. Morris, who was arrested again on Nov. 18, was released from jail last night after posting $15,000 bail.
The victims of the discount ‘doctor’ will have a long way to go. Narinesingh said the photo of her, above, with her face still visibly disfigured, is after surgery by a licensed doctor.
Dr. John Martin, a Coral Gables, Fla., plastic surgeon is working with Narinesingh to help minimize the damage on her face; he said it’s going to take a long time.
“She’s got a long road, thousands and thousands of dollars to correct what was probably two or three hundred dollars to get the injection,” Martin told CBS.