Left: Rosa Mena. Right, top and bottom: An illegal “Med Spa” Mena was allegedly operating out of her shed at her residence in Port St. Lucie, Florida (Port St. Lucie Police).
Authorities in Florida apprehended a 50-year-old woman accused of running an unauthorized “Med Spa” from her shed, resulting in one of her “patients” experiencing facial paralysis following a failed Botox treatment.
Rosa Maria Mena faces multiple charges, including three counts of aggravated battery causing bodily harm and practicing medicine without an active license, alongside two counts of fraud and one count of using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. The Port St. Lucie Police Department stated in a Facebook post that a victim reached out to the agency in May, reporting that she suffered from facial paralysis after undergoing one of Mena’s procedures.
The victim confronted Mena after the problems persisted and the suspect allegedly had her come back to her “spa.” Mena injected her face again, this time with vitamins to “reverse” the effects, cops said. The facial paralysis continued and Mena refunded the woman the $325 cost of the Botox, cops said.
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Fed up, the victim demanded Mena produce her medical license, which she could not do, according to cops. She instead showed her a “censored/altered” certificate of Phlebotomy, police said. The victim contacted the agency in charge of issuing licenses and learned that it had expired last year, per police.
“Mena attempted to put the victim’s mind at ease by telling her she was a doctor from the Dominican Republic, dismissing her concerns,” the Facebook post said.
Detectives executed a search warrant at Mena’s home in the 5000 block of Northwest Coosa Drive. There, they found “an overwhelming amount of evidence to support the victim’s allegations,” officers wrote. There were numerous medical devices, including beds, medications, vials, laser hair-removal treatment, Botox and injectable devices for fillers, cops said.
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Port St. Lucie police gave the following advice for patients seeking such care.
“We want to remind the public to research the facility and individual prior to performing procedures,” the agency wrote. “Additionally, in order to perform injectable procedures like Botox it needs to be performed by a licensed professional. Your safety is our priority!”
Mena was arrested on Wednesday and remains in the St. Lucie County Jail on a $95,000 bond.
