A 35yr-old American woman
simply identified as Kasia Rivera has been arrested for causing a man’s death
with an injection of silicone she hoped would enlarge his penis. She could face up to ten years in prison if convicted of
reckless manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Justin Street.
According to reports, Justin Street,
a father of two, had gone to the woman Kasia Rivera
on May 5, 2012 seeking a penile
enlargement procedure, which prosecutors say Rivera advertised for in fliers
posted at local
businesses. Rivera, who performed the procedures in her
apartment, allegedly with no medical license or training, administered a
silicone shot to Justin’s penis which later led to his death.
Street
died the next day. His death was ruled a homicide following an investigation
and a medical examiner's determination that he died of a silicone embolism.
Rivera was indicted by a grand jury last month.
Investigators
believe Rivera may have conducted similar unauthorized procedures out of her
East Orange apartment, but prosecutors said a search for witnesses, and a
public plea for people to step forward, had not yielded any other clients to
date.
Rivera,
who remains free on $75,000 bail, declined to comment through her court-appointed
attorney Tuesday. Both Rivera and Street were from East Orange, and the case is
being heard in Superior Court in neighboring Newark.
Dr.
Daniel S. Elliott, an associate professor of urology at the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minn., said it was the first case he'd heard of involving a silicone
injection to the penis, but he's dealt with similar cases where patients had
attempted to enlarge their penises with injections of fat or other substances.
None
of it works, Elliott emphasized, adding that there is no medical justification
for the procedure.