A fake plastic surgeon who “permanently disfigured” multiple women in operations after recruiting them at a Queens spa pleaded guilty to practicing medicine without a license yesterday, authorities said.
Phony MD Carlos Arango will be sentenced to six months in prison and five years of probation, and will be forced to pay $8,700 in restitution to his victims, said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office.
Arango, 47, admitted in Queens Supreme Court that between April and December 2011 he and another man, William Ordonez, 43, recruited women from the Bellisima Full Service Spa on 108th Street in Corona for cosmetic surgeries while falsely claiming to be doctors. He then performed liposuction and other “invasive procedures” on the women. at Riosa Surgical Spa on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and at the OnShape Medical Spa in Stamford, Conn., the AG’s office said.
The surgeries were done “without general anaesthesia” and left the women “permanently disfigured as a result,” according to the office.
Afterward, Arango referred the women to the Bellisima Spa for post-operative massages, he admitted in court.
Ordonez, who was also charged in the case, is a fugitive. Charges remain pending against a third defendant, 49-year-old Dr. Marlon Castillo, who allegedly helped recruit women for the surgeries and participated in the operations.
“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,” said Schneiderman.