Fake plastic surgeon who disfigured women pleads guilty, will be sentenced

September 7, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Friday announced the felony conviction of unlicensed “plastic surgeon” Carlos Arango.

In a felony complaint filed in April 2012, the attorney general charged Carlos Arango and William Ordonez, who are not licensed doctors, along with licensed physician Marlon Castillo, with performing cosmetic surgeries on women without general anesthesia and leaving them permanently disfigured as a result.

In his guilty plea before Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt in Queens County Supreme Court, Arango admitted that he solicited patients and performed cosmetic surgeries on them between approximately April 2011 and December 2011.

Arango admitted that he, together with co-defendant Ordonez, recruited women from Bellisima Full Service Spa, located at 51-03 108th St. in Corona, Queens. Arango further admitted that he held himself out to be a doctor, although he is not a licensed physician.

After recruiting patients from Bellisima Spa, Arango admitted that he practiced medicine without a license by performing liposuction and other invasive procedures on women, with defendant Castillo’s knowledge. Arango performed the surgical procedures at OnShape Medical Spa, at 60 Strawberry Hill Ave. in Stamford, Connecticut, and at Riosa Surgical Spa, 211 West 106th St., in Manhattan.

After the surgeries, he referred patients to Bellisima Spa for post-operative “massages.”

Arango pleaded guilty to one count of Unlicensed Practice of a Profession (a Class “E” felony). He will be sentenced to six months in prison and five years probation, and must pay $8,700 restitution to his victims.

The case against co-defendant Marlon Castillo remains pending. William Ordonez, the third individual charged in the Attorney General’s complaint, remains at large.

“Practicing medicine without a license is a very serious crime in New York, and we will hold accountable anyone who preys on vulnerable communities to make a quick buck. Mr. Arango lured unsuspecting patients with bargain prices for very complex medical procedures, putting his own greed ahead of the health and safety of his victims,” said Schneiderman.