Death From Silicone Injections in South Georgia (2004-2005)

Source: Seely, Christopher. (2004, 19 March). Officials investigate silicone death. Southern Voice, p. 6.

Officials Investigate Silicone Death

Transgendered Woman Dies After Illicit Injection

By Christopher Seely

Officials in Dougherty County are investigating the death of a transgendered woman in Albany, Ga., thought to be the victim of a lethal silicone injection in January according to Jim Paulk, the county’s assistant district attorney.

Paulk would not release any further information about the case until the investigation closes, he said.

There is not yet a determined cause of death for the 23-year old, but industrial-grade silicone likely played a part, said Dr. Mark Koponen, deputy chief medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“What we see is individuals who are dying of complications of illicit silicone injections,” Koponen said. “There’s an underground out there of individuals who provide silicone injections for others for the purpose of altering their body habitus, so they can attain an image that is more pleasing to them. And these people who are doing this often have no medical background, and what they inject is not safe.”

Once injected into the body, silicone can migrate to places where it is not intended, causing skin discoloration, scarring or complications with organs, Koponen said.

Often the silicone ends up in the blood stream and can block small blood vessels in the lungs, resulting in potentially lethal scarring of the lung tissue, he said.

“It just ends up in little globules, here, there and everywhere,” said Dallas Denny, a transgendered activist who has warned of silicone injections in lectures and online articles for 15 years.

The popularity of silicone injections is especially high in transgender circles “especially around the club girls,” who want to enhance their breasts, lips, buttocks and cheeks, Denny said.

“There are people who travel around the country with no medical credentials pumping up people with silicone,” said Denny, who was contacted by both Paulk and Koponen after the Albany woman’s death.

Paullc and Koponen told Denny they were looking for anyone with information to help locate the person responsible for administering the silicone injections, she said.

“They implied that it was one person and they have a suspect, and my impression is they think they know who did it,” Denny said.

The person responsible for the death is a “woman from Atlanta,” said Jazzmyn Braxton, a 23-year-old transgendered woman who is now sick from silicone injections, according to a Jan. 21 broadcast on WALB-TV in Albany.

The woman who did Braxton’s injections lived in Atlanta, but traveled across the Southeast, Braxton said during the interview.

Often the person injecting the silicone is a male-to-female transgendered person, who charges anywhere from $300 to $700 for an injection, according to Denny.

The injections take place at word-of-mouth “pumping parties” with the use of a big bore needle and industrial.grade silicone calk or, more rarely, medical grade silicone extracted from implants, Denny said.

“It’s essentially the same stuff you get at Home Depot,” she said.

The FDA has not approved medical-grade silicone for injection, Koponen said.

The person responsible for the Albany death could face charges of practicing medicine without a license and murder, Koponen said.

Last month, a man in Dallas, Texas, was sentenced to five years in prison after several of his former clients discovered their lips to be swollen, lumpy, blistered and extremely sensitive within weeks of silicone injection, according to the Associated Press.

The Dallas man, Luis Sanchez, pleaded guilty to the charges of practicing medicine without a license.

And in Miami, Fla., last November, a man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for injecting silicone in a transgendered woman’s buttocks at a “pumping party,” according to reports from the Miami Herald.

The woman died as a result, and a jury convicted the man, Mark Hawkins, of felony third-degree murder, unlicensed practice of medicine, and culpable negligence.

MORE INFO

Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office P.O. Box 1827 Albany, GA  31702 229 431-3233 www.doughtertyga.us

Source: Seely, Christopher. (2004, April 2). Four arrested for silicone injections in South Georgia. Southern Voice, p. 6.

Four Arrested for Silicone Injections in South GA

Death of Trans Woman in December Leads to Investigation

By Christopher Seely

Dougherty County officials arrested four transgendered women March 25 in connection with a string of cosmetic silicone injections, charging one of them with the death of a transgendered Albany resident.

Andre Jeter, 23, received silicone injections in her face and chest Dec. 10, and died a month later from major organ failure, according to Dougherty County District Attorney Ken Hodges.

“This is a very dangerous procedure and if anybody is engaging in having silicone injected straight into their body by anybody and certainly by anyone who is not a doctor—they shouldn’t do it,” Hodges said.

Stephen Oneal Thomas, 31, was charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and unauthorized practice of medicine in relation to Jeter’s death.

Authorities also charged Mark Edwards, 23, Freddie Clyde, 22, and Kontavious Parks, 23, with unauthorized practice of medicine and criminal conspiracy for attempting to mislead law enforcement officials during the investigation.

Transgender activist Dallas Denny said illicit silicone injections are popular amouçj tratisgendered people, ‘especially around the club girls and pageant circuit.

All four people who were arrested in the case are transgendered women, according to Hodges. Only their legal names were released with other documents about the case.

Four other transgendered victims came forward after Jeter’s death, alleging they too had received silicone shots from Thomas, beginning last September and ending in December.

For allegedly administering the shots, Thomas faces four counts of unauthorized practice of medicine.

“Every one of the people will suffer serious health risks and may end up dead,” Hodges said.

All the injections allegedly took place in the south Georgia city of Albany, according to Hodges. Edwards, Clyde and Parks allegedly identified potential clients, negotiated fees and transported clients to the injection site. Edwards allegedly assisted with the injection procedures, according to court documents.

The charges against the transgendered women did not detail the cost of the injections. But Dallas Denny, a transgendered activist who has spoken out about silicone injections for 15 years, said illicit silicone injections cost from $300 to $700, depending on the silicone quality.

The popularity of silicone injections is high in transgender circles “especially around the club girls” and pageant circuit, Denny said. Generally, injections are sought to enhance breasts, lips, buttocks and cheeks, to make a biological male look more feminine, she said.

“Some cheekbones are so exaggerated they don’t look at all natural, so you know they have probably been pumped,” Denny said.

It’s typical for an injector to have a “publicity machine” sweeping into cities to draw people into “pumping parties” where the silicone injections usually take place, Denny said.

Once injected into the body, silicone can migrate to places where it’s not intended, causing skin discoloration, scarring and medical problems in organs, according to Dr. Mark Koponen, deputy chief medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.\

Often the silicone ends up in the blood stream and can block small blood vessels in the lungs, resulting in potentially lethal scarring of the lung tissue, he said.

Many victims of silicone injection are aware of the hazards but choose to receive the injections anyway, according to Denny.

“There is a lot of consensual denial,” she said. “At some level I think people probably do know that it is not the best thing and some people really don’t know.”

Transgendered women who choose to seek out the injections despite the risks should make sure the needles are clean and the silicone is a high grade, according to Brenda Thomas, a transgendered woman who advises the city health department in Houston on issues including HIV.

People seeking injections should also find out as much as possible about the silicone being used before allowing it to enter their body, Thomas said.

Silicone is mixed with paraffin, oil or peanut butter, according to Denny.

“None of it is safe, but some practices are safer,” Thomas said.

In Houston last year two transgendered women died of silicone injections, Thomas said.

The injections are now becoming popular among gay men who want bigger pectoral mass, buttock enlargements, and to counter facial wasting caused by HIV medications, Thomas said.

Source: Hudson, Zack. (2005, 11 March). Trans woman receives five-year sentence in “pumping” case. Southern Voice, p. 11

Trans Woman Receives Five-Year Sentence in “Pumping” Case

Three Others Await Trial in Case Over December 2003 Death

By Zack Hudson

A south Georgia transgendered woman was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in the December 2003 death of another transgendered person after receiving illicit silicone injections.

Stephen O’Neal Thomas, 31, was originally charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and unauthorized practice of medicine in relation to the death of Andre Jeter, 23. Thomas injected Jeter, also a male-to-female transgender, with industrial grade silicone in her face and chest up to three times, authorities said.

Jeter passed out after Thomas injected her for the last time on Dec. 10,2003. She survived one month in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Albany’s Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital before dying of organ failure caused by blood poisoning, prosecutors said.

Thomas, who was arrested in March 2004, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and four counts of the unauthorized practice of medicine without a license on Feb. 2. She was sentenced to five years in prison with an additional 10 years on probation.

“The state found it was acceptable to plea this case,” said Greg Edwards, chief assistant district attorney in Dougherty County. “We found that the victim, Jeter, was a willing participant.”

Edwards said that investigators found “no direct intent” from Thomas to kill Jeter.

The prosecutor said Thomas injected willing victims who were recruited by three other transgendered women—Kontavious Parks, Freddie Clyde and Marcrae Edwards. The three were charged with unauthorized practice of medicine and criminal conspiracy for attempting to mislead law enforcement officials during the investigation.

James Paulk, chief investigator for the Dougherty County District Attorney’s office, said that Parks, Clyde and Marcrae attracted customers who paid between $300 and $500 for the injections, often assisting Thomas in the actual procedures. In exchange for their help, Thomas provided the three with silicone injections, Paulk said.

Thomas’ plea deal with prosecutors stipulates that she testify against Parks, Clyde and Marcrae, as well as Verna Barnett, a Gwinnett County woman arrested in August. Investigators said Barnett, also charged with practicing medicine without a license, with training Thomas and others to “pump” victims.

After Jeter’s death, four transgendered women said they were suffering from silicone-induced illnesses after being injected by Thomas.

Transgender activist Dallas Denny said she is not satisfied with the recent sentenced given to an Albany woman accused of administering illicit silicone injections that led to the death of a woman in December 2003.

When investigators raided Barnett’s home in August, they found at least two containers of industrial or food quality silicone and an area they described as an “operating room likely used to perform illegal plastic surgery” according to investigators. They maintain that Barnett trained Thomas and others throughout the southeast to “pump” other transgendered women.

“Certainly the situation we had was at least a regional problem,” Edwards said. Thomas’ attorney, Willie Weaver, refused to comment. Thomas remains in the Dougherty County Jail until she is assigned a prison to serve her sentence.

Edwards, Parks Clyde remain free on bond, but have since moved to Savannah. Clyde was arrested in November on identity theft charges.

The plea has left at least one advocate for the civil rights of transgendered people dismayed. Dallas Denny, the co-founder of Gender Education & Advocacy, who has been consulted by investigators as well as the media about the case, said she is not satisfied with the sentence Thomas received.

“I’m a little chagrined that the sentence turned out in the way it did,” Denny said. “Certainly I’m not surprised. Basically, this person was engaged in a criminal enterprise that is not unlike organized crime.”

Denny, who is a psychologist, authored a study on the dangers of “pumping” and said it’s a problem it “has been going on for decades.”

“It’s the promise of instant curve, and that can be very appealing,” she said.

Once injected into the body, silicone can migrate to places where it’s not intended, causing skin discoloration, scarring and medical problems in organs, according to Dr. Mark Koponen, deputy chief medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Often the silicone ends up in the blood stream and can block small blood vessels in the lungs, resulting in potentially lethal scarring of the lung tissue, he said.

©2004 by C.G. Wallace

Source: Wallace, C.G. (2004, 4 April). Death highlights risk of illegal injections. Miami Herald. Read online here.

Death Highlights Risk of Illegal Injections

By C.G. Wallace

Associated Press

ALBANY, Ga.—Nikkia Scott and other drag queens have been getting illegal, back-room injections of industrial-grade silicone to give themselves some of the things nature denied them when they were born male – breasts, wider hips, more prominent cheekbones. They know the risks are extreme, yet still they do it.

“Anything you put in your body that don’t belong there will hurt you in the long run,” Scott said of her $6,000 worth of injections. “But believe me, it has been worth it. It has been worth it.”

The dangers were illustrated recently by the death of 23-year-old Andre D. Jeter, who authorities say suffered convulsions and fell unconscious Dec. 10 after receiving injections in her hips and buttocks during a “pumping party” in Albany. She died a month later.

One of Scott’s roommates, Stephen Oneal Thomas, 31, was charged last month with murder and other offenses for allegedly administering the injections. Thomas’ lawyer refused comment on Tuesday.

Scott and three others were also arrested in the case and charged with conspiracy and practicing medicine without a license. They were accused, among other things, of helping Thomas by recruiting patients at drag-queen beauty pageants.

The victim was a man living as a woman, as are all four defendants.

“PUMPING”

The death has thrown a spotlight on “pumping,” a thriving underground practice among men living as women, particularly those who compete in beauty pageants and perform in drag shows.

Pumping parties are typically held in motel rooms or apartments.

While medical-grade silicone is implanted under the skin in sealed sacs to keep it from leaking, pumping involves injecting silicone straight into the body.

And the silicone used is the stuff sold in hardware stores as a sealant. It is not sterile and can cause infections, particularly in the lungs.

The silicone is often mixed with paraffin, oil, even peanut butter, said Dallas Denny of the transgender support group Gender Education & Advocacy. In Jeter’s case, it was probably mixed with baby oil, based on how it smelled to others who received the injections, said James Paulk, an investigator for the district attorney.

There was so much silicone in Jeter’s body that when incisions were made during the autopsy, a clear, brownish liquid flowed out, Paulk said.

The scope of the phenomenon is unclear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and transgender groups said they do not keep track of the problem. But Paulk said a “slew” of people have been injured, including three or four in Montgomery, Ala., six or seven in Columbus, Ga., and a few in Jacksonville, Fla.

A TIGHT-KNIT SOCIETY

“The transgender society is a very tight-knit society. They don’t like to give each other up because if you do, you get barred from the pageants,” Paulk said. “If they’re not hurting and they’re not experiencing medical problems, they aren’t calling me.”

A day after his arrest, a stubble-faced Scott, wearing large hoop earrings, was back to gluing weaves to heads at a beauty parlor in Albany, a town 150 miles south of Atlanta. His roommate Jazz, also arrested in the case, was at home, wearing pajamas and pink flowered flip-flops.

Jazz and Scott compete in drag shows during “black society” nights at a bar called Queens in Albany. They dress in gowns and rhinestones and perform songs for tips.

They both strongly denied any involvement in giving silicone injections and said they did not know their roommate Thomas was “pumping.”

Scott, identified as Freddie Clyde in court documents, said her silicone injections have not caused any serious health problems.

But Jazz, whose legal name is Mark Edwards, said she has had three procedures—face, bust and lower body—that cost her about $3,300, and has suffered severe side effects.

CHEMICALS AND SCARS

Last year, she said, she started coughing heavily and discovered the silicone had gotten into her lungs, giving her chemical pneumonia. She spent two months in the hospital and several more months on bed rest, and her weight dropped from 270 to 150.

She also lifted up her T-shirt to show the scar under one of her breasts where doctors went in to remove a hardened clump of silicone.

“LIKE A MONSTER”

As for Jeter, Jazz said, she had taken the injections too far. Jeter had complained that her head itched and that her hair had stopped growing, according to Jazz. “Jeter was making herself look like a monster,” Jazz said.

Despite her own health problems, Jazz said she has nothing against the woman who gave her the injections.

“I don’t want to prosecute her, I want to thank her,” she said.

“I’m the one who wanted the work. She did nothing wrong but what I wanted.”