ATLANTA – A woman has pleaded guilty to killing another woman by injecting her with liquid silicone, and injecting it into three other women, who survived.
According to the Atlanta U.S. attorney’s office, Deanna Roberts "pleaded guilty to four felony counts of possessing, transporting, and ultimately illegally injecting persons with liquid silicone, and four felony counts of introducing into interstate commerce liquid silicone."
One of Roberts' victims, Lateasha Hall - a popular transgender entertainer in Atlanta known by her stage name Lateasha Shuntel - died about 36 hours after the injection when the silicone went to her lungs, heart, brain and other organs, in November 2015. Hall had gone to Roberts to receive the silicone injections as a cosmetic treatment, for buttocks enhancement. Roberts administered ten injections of liquid silicone into Hall's buttocks that day.
“Roberts admitted that she caused the death of one person by injecting her with liquid silicone, and that she also injected liquid silicone into multiple other people, putting their lives at considerable risk,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn. “Before undergoing any type of medical procedure, patients should ensure they have consulted a licensed medical provider who is qualified to provide care.”
Horn said Roberts purchased at least 178 gallons of liquid silicone between April 2004 and December 2015, a substance strictly regulated by the FDA. Roberts claimed she intended to supply the silicone to a customer for use in lubricating medical equipment.
Roberts falsely claimed to her victims that she was a licensed medical practitioner.
She will be sentenced in Atlanta Federal Court on May 24.
