North Andover Woman Charged with Performing Illegal Silicone Injections

BOSTON – A North Andover woman was charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with offering illegal silicone injections in exchange for money. 

Gladys Araceli Ceron, 71, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of delivery for pay of an adulterated or misbranded device received in interstate commerce. Ceron will appear before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Donald L. Cabell at 3:40 pm today. 

According to the charging documents, Ceron, who operated her business in Lawrence, has been obtaining “gluteal material” from a source in Florida for over eight years. During a federal search warrant executed at the source’s residence in 2016, agents seized plastic bottles of suspected cosmetic silicone fillers. Lab tests subsequently confirmed that those fillers contained silicone oil, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns can travel through blood vessels and cause a stroke, death or permanent disfigurement.

In 2018, a cooperating witness working with federal agents began making recorded phone calls to Ceron in order to arrange for buttock enhancing and facial injections. During a recorded meeting on May 24, 2018, Ceron allegedly told the cooperating witness that she charges $500 for buttock injections and $60 for each wrinkle-filling injection.  A search of Ceron’s business in Lawrence in June 2018 resulted in the seizure of several bottles and syringes of a substance that tests revealed to be silicone oil.  Numerous uncapped, used, syringes were also recovered from the business.

Members of the public who believe they may be a victim of this crime should contact usama.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than one year in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of $100,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Jeffrey J. Ebersole, Special Agent in Charge of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office; and H. Peter Kuehl, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Rachel Y. Hemani of Lelling’s Health Care Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.