Buster
Feds Say Woman Banked At Least $1.3 Million Via Illegal Silicone Enhancement Business
7/12 UPDATE: Smedley was sentenced this afternoon to three years in prison and fined $25,000
The Georgia woman who has pleaded guilty to administering silicone injections to a large female clientele banked $1.3 million from her illegal nationwide practice, according to a “conservative” estimate prepared by federal prosecutors in advance of her sentencing tomorrow on a felony conspiracy charge.
Investigators contend that Kimberly Smedley, 46, showed a reckless disregard for the safety of women seeking enhanced hips and buttocks by injecting a staggering amount of non-medical grade silicone between 2003 and 2011 (when she was arrested by federal agents).
Pictured at right, Smedley injected her clients--usually in hotel rooms--with a substance intended for “metal or plastic lubrication, and as an additive for paint, furniture, and automotive polishes,” according to a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.
As a result, these women “are prone to infection as a result of the toxic substance” injected by Smedley, noted prosecutors, who added that, “Even if there is not an adverse effect right away, medical problems will almost certainly arise at some point in the future.”
Smedley, who charged hundreds of clients between $500 and $1600 per injection, ordered nearly 5000 pounds of silicone from one manufacturer alone, an amount that prosecutors termed “staggering.” A forensic accountant’s review of Smedley’s bank accounts identified $1.315 million in gross receipts tied to her silicone operation, though the “actual number is likely appreciably higher,” according to the government filing.
Prosecutors want Judge Catherine Blake to sentence Smedley to 42 months in prison to be followed by three years probation. They also want Smedley to be fined $250,000. Smedley’s lawyer has suggested a prison term of one year and one day, along with three years probation and a $5000 fine.
Smedley’s lucrative business was broken up by federal agents after a client of hers--a stripper from Baltimore--became seriously ill and had to be hospitalized when silicone injected in her hips and buttocks ended up in her lungs.