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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Fatal Plastic Surgery|in the Back of a Tile Shop

LAS VEGAS (CN) - A family claims their mother died after botched, illegal buttocks-enhancing plastic surgery conducted in the back of a tile shop.

The late Elena Caro, 42, suffered an allergic reaction to a gel-like substance injected into her buttocks six times in April, her husband and children say in Clark County Court.

They sued the Colombian husband and wife who performed the procedure, both of whom are in prison. They also sued six other people and two businesses, including the Sinaloa Beauty Salon, and Tiles N More.

Lead defendants Ruben Dario Matallana-Galvas and Carmen Olfidia Torres-Sanchez were sentenced in October to up to 8 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, according to the complaint.

The late woman's husband, Oscar Canale, says his wife went to Tiles N More in April for a "plastic surgery procedure" to be performed by Matallana-Galvas "and/or" Torres-Sanchez.

"(S)pecifically the defendants injected Ms. Caro with a gel type of substance in six separate injections sites in her buttocks at the Tiles More building," on April 9 this year, the complaint states. At about 1:45 p.m. that day, "Ms. Caro was found ... by the North Las Vegas Police and was transported to North Vista Hospital by ambulance, where she later died," it adds.

Canale claims that in addition to failing to make sure that his wife was not allergic to the materials injected into her, the defendants failed to timely call an ambulance when she reacted to the injections.

According to an arrest report, Caro went to the defendants for a buttocks enhancement. She was given the shots in a two-room office area "to the rear of a floor tile business," according to the arrest report.

Caro was supposed to return a few hours after the injections, but was found roaming the streets in pain.

When her daughter came to pick her mother up at the tile store, she noticed that "there wasn't the same furniture there that was there earlier in the day," according to the arrest report.

Galvas and Sanchez were arrested that day at McCarran International Airport as they tried to board an airplane to Colombia, according to the arrest report.

"During the interview Lattalana was advised of his Miranda rights and that he was under arrested for murder," the arrest report states. "Mattalana said Caro did come into his office and asked about getting a butt enhancement. Mattalana told Caro that he didn't have the equipment to be able to perform this procedure. Mattalana eventually said he did perform the procedure on Caro by injecting her with 200 cc of a gel type substance within 6 separate injection sites. Mattalana also stated Caro then walked away from the office. Mattalana admitted he was not a licensed doctor in Nevada and also was only a homeopathic doctor in Colombia.

"On 4/29/2011 Detective Raetz and Detective O'Kelley interviewed Elizabeth Flores who was an assistant to Dr. Mattalana. Flores told detectives that on 4/9/2011 she received a phone call from Dr. Mattalana and that he wanted her to cancel his appointments for the afternoon because 'something had gone wrong.' ...

"Mattalana and Torres were placed under arrest for murder and transported to the Clark County Detention Center, where they were booked accordingly."

According to the complaint, Mattalana and Torres pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, practicing medicine without a license and conspiracy. They were sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison, according to press reports.

Sinaloa Beauty Salon allegedly referred Caro to Matallana, for a fee from the defendants.

The family seeks damages for wrongful death and negligence.

They are represented by Keith Galliher Jr.

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