Unlicensed injector charged with negligent homicide after botched butt silicone injection kills Connecticut woman
Alicia Leslie, posing as a cosmetologist, was charged with criminally negligent homicide after a failed silicone butt injection caused the death of Maxine Messam in February 2022.
A Connecticut woman died after receiving an unauthorized silicone butt injection from Alicia Leslie, who pretended to be a cosmetologist. Investigators uncovered text messages arranging the February 15, 2022 procedure in Yonkers, after which Messam suffered cardiac arrest and was left naked and unconscious at Jacobi Medical Center. Leslie, charged with criminally negligent homicide, was arraigned before Judge Pamela Goldsmith and granted supervised release; she also has past petit larceny convictions.
Authorities note at least a dozen similar fatalities nationwide, with federal data showing a surge in unlicensed practitioners in New York, Florida, Texas, and California. Prior cases include Tamira Mobley’s guilty plea to manslaughter and Lisa Fernandez’s 2021 manslaughter charge for comparable illegal injections. The incident highlights ongoing public-health risks from underground cosmetic procedures.
Why it matters
It underscores the lethal danger of unlicensed cosmetic procedures and the need for stronger enforcement.
In this story
