Fake New York doctor shares grim details of how glamorous young mom died during botched Brazilian butt lift

Daily Mail​

29-04-2025

A fake New York doctor has detailed the grim moment a glamorous young mom died at his hands during a botched Brazilian butt lift procedure.
Felipe Hoyos-Foronda, 37, of Astoria, Queens, was indicted on Monday for manslaughter and assault charges over the death of 31-year-old María Paz Peñaloza.
The Colombian, who is not licensed to practice in New York, was nabbed at a Starbucks inside John F Kennedy Airport on March 28 after he fled his Astoria apartment, where Peñaloza was suffering lidocaine toxicity, according to the New York Daily News (NYDN).
'I booked the flight while I was driving,' he allegedly told investigators. 'I was going to go back to Colombia.'
He was due to catch a flight from New York to Florida and then eventually to Colombia.
'Moments before he was able to board that flight police officers apprehended this defendant on the Starbucks line,' Assistant District Attorney Gregory Lasak said.
Authorities say they found a bloody syringe, used syringes, an empty bottle of lidocaine and other medications inside a bag in his car, NYDN reported.
Peñaloza, a mother of two, had gone to his home for a $1,900 procedure to have a botched silicon butt implant removed when he injected lidocaine - a local anesthetic - into her buttocks.
'After I injected her, she started to speak funny and then she stopped speaking,' he told investigators, NYDN reported. 'Slurred speech is normal during this type of anesthesia, even though it's local.
'After she tightened up, she didn't respond. She had low pressure and a low pulse. I administered CPR.'
When he couldn't revive her, the doctor took off toward the airport, as he knew he was not legally allowed to practice medicine in the States.
'I showed paramedics. I am not a licensed doctor here. I understand I am not allowed to practice medicine,' he told authorities.
However, he assured authorities that he had performed the procedures 'hundreds of times' and had been practicing inside the makeshift space 'for a few months.'
'I've done work on many girls,' he allegedly said, according to NYDN.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said her office did not know how Hoyos-Foronda procured the drug.
'Please be careful,' she advised. 'We've had several of these cases here in Queens where people hold themselves out to be medical professionals but indeed they are not certified.'
She encouraged anyone who received a medical service by Hoyos-Foronda to come forward.
The mother-of-two had arrived to his apartment with a friend around 1pm on March 28. When she became lightheaded, Hoyos-Foronda called 911 and fled.
When first responders arrived, they found Peñaloza unconscious on a medical chair and she was transferred to Mount Sinai Queens, a DA press release said.
Peñaloza went without a pulse for two hours, according to the New York Post.
She had no signs of brain activity. On April 11, she was taken off life support, the DA said.
The victim's mother, Gladys Cabrera, wants to see the fake doctor 'go to jail,' she told NYDN.
'He's dangerous to the society... She didn't deserve this,' she told the outlet at the courthouse on Monday.
Theodore Paloumbas, the victim's husband of three years, said he didn't even know she had gone to Astoria for the removal.
'We had been married for three years. I did not know that she was going for this procedure,' he told NYDN.
Her sister, Lucy Peñaloza, told the New York Post: 'The family is paying the consequences and we're waiting for him to suffer the full weight of the law.'
Hoyos-Foronda is expected back in court on June 3. He faces up to 15 years in prison.