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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Man Targeted Queens Women for Unlicensed Plastic Surgery

The Manhattan District Attorney's Official Corruption Unit brought down a madam who allegedly made millions running a brothel.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Official Corruption Unit brought down a madam who allegedly made millions running a brothel.
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QUEENS — A man charged with luring women from a Corona spa with the promise of making them look like models and performing plastic surgeries that left them permanently disfigured pleaded guilty Friday, according to officials.

Carlos Arango, 46, who split time between Connecticut and Florida, is one of three men arrested for allegedly performing the illegal surgeries, the state attorney general's office said Friday.

"Practicing medicine without a license is a very serious crime in New York, and we will hold accountable anyone who preys on vulnerable communities to make a quick buck," Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement. "Mr. Arango lured unsuspecting patients with bargain prices for very complex medical procedures, putting his own greed ahead of the health and safety of his victims."

Arango admitted to performing at least three unlicensed liposuctions and fat transfers between April and August 2011, Schneiderman's office said. 

According to the criminal complaint, he introduced himself to women at the Bellisima Full Service Spa at 51-03 108th St. in Corona as "Dr. Arango," telling them he could make them "look like a model."

One woman went to meet Arango at 211 W. 106th St. on the Upper West Side, where she paid him $5,500 to have liposuction and fat transfer surgery, the complaint says. The woman was left conscious while Arango and William Ordonez from Florida, 44, performed the surgery, the complaint says.

Another woman was told that the sagging skin she had as a result of a similar surgery done by the men could be fixed by another procedure, the complaint says. The woman said she was awake while a man named Marlon Castillo, 50, from Connecticut, made an incision below her breast bone, and while Arago sewed the incision up.

Arango pleaded guilty to unlicensed practice of a profession and was sentenced to six months in prison, five years probation and $8,700 in payments to his patients, Schneiderman's office said.

The case against Castillo, who operates the OnShape Medical case is pending, and Ordonez is still at large, Schneiderman's office said.