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Inset: Felipe Hoyos-Foronda (NYPD). Background: The apartment building where Hoyos-Foronda allegedly performed illegal plastic surgery that left a woman brain-dead (WCBS).
A 38-year-old man in New York City has been arrested after he allegedly performed an illegal plastic surgery procedure inside his home on a 31-year-old woman who was left brain-dead. Felipe Hoyos-Foronda was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday and charged with one count of second-degree assault and one count of unauthorized practice of a profession.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by The Independent, the victim went to Hoyos-Foronda’s home in Queens on the evening of March 28, 2025, because she wanted to have her butt implants removed. Shortly after she arrived at the residence, which reportedly doubled as a makeshift medical office, authorities say that Hoyos-Foronda administered several lidocaine injections.
Unfortunately, the injections soon caused the victim to go into cardiac arrest, police said. Hoyos-Foronda reportedly called Emergency Medical Services to his home before fleeing the scene in his car.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders entered the home where they found the victim unresponsive. She was transported to Astoria General Hospital for treatment, where doctors believed she suffered lidocaine toxicity due to excessive amounts of the drug being in her system, The New York Daily News reported. The condition typically causes seizures and an irregular heartbeat, but in extreme cases leads to cardiac arrest.
The building’s landlord reportedly provided authorities with information on Hoyos-Foronda and his photograph.
The victim was later transported to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital due to the severity of her condition.
Officers with the Port Authority Police Department were tipped off to Hoyos-Foronda’s whereabouts when a license plate reader spotted his vehicle traveling south on the Van Wyck Expressway toward JFK after the incident. Police apprehended the defendant after he went through security at the airport, where he had purchased a ticket to Colombia.
A doctor informed police that the victim was on life support and showed no brain activity, the Astoria Post reported. The doctor reportedly said that he did not believe the victim would survive.
A neighbor of Hoyos-Foronda, who did not wish to be identified, told the Daily News that it was likely Hoyos-Foronda had treated many other people prior to the victim being hospitalized.
“There was a steady stream of middle-class Latino women coming in and out for months,” the neighbor told the newspaper. “It was strange but we never imagined it was anything dangerous.”
The paper further reported that authorities believe Hoyos-Foronda performed similar procedures, which were also allegedly unlawful, in Miami, where he reportedly advertised services that included Botox injections and micro-needling.
Authorities are urging anyone with relevant information about the case to contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
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