A federal judge has sentenced a McAllen spa owner to three years in federal prison for her role in the deadly “Fake Botox” scandal.
Elva Navarro appeared for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez in McAllen on Friday morning.
The Bella Face and Body Spa owner pleaded guilty to a receiving an adulterated device charge back in July.
Judge Alvarez sentenced Navarro to three years in federal prison, the maximum punishment for the crime.
Navarro apologized to the court and asked for forgiveness from the families of the victims.
Federal prosecutors allege that Navarro allowed a woman who posed as a doctor to inject at least 30 of her clients at the spa with hardware store silicone.
The fake doctor told Navarro’s clients that she was injecting them with Botox but many of them had serious medical complications from the silicone.
Federal prosecutors said that one woman who was hospitalized told Navarro what happened but she continued to allow the injections.
Even after the warning, federal prosecutors said three more women had a severe reaction and that one of them died.
Navarro is facing several serious state charges including practicing medicine without a license, murder and kidnapping.
The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office is considering the death of her client as murder.
Navarro is also allegedly to be one of the masterminds of a September 2012 kidnapping at the UTPA campus in Edinburg.
Defense attorney Terry Canales said Navarro is preparing to go to trial for those cases next year.
Canales said Navarro thought the injections were safe and even injected herself.
