By Julie K. Brown, McClatchy Newspapers –
MIAMI — Clad in a nurse’s uniform and plastic gloves, “Duchess” set up a shingle at the Motel 6 in Dania Beach in May 2009, offering her services for $3,000 to $4,000 per client.
There, according to authorities, Duchess, whose real name is Oneal Ron Morris, injected her patients’ buttocks with a toxic mixture stored in a Pedialyte bottle. Each time, Morris assured them she was using silicone to enhance their backsides.
Within months, the women became violently ill, one of them suffering a lung blockage that nearly killed her.
On Tuesday, authorities arrested Morris once again. She already is facing multiple charges of using “fix-a-flat” and other kitchen sink substances to enlarge women’s buttocks in Miami-Dade County.
Morris faces multiple counts of practicing medicine without a license, causing serious injury. The latest charges were filed by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
One victim, Lournise Linton, 31, of Tampa, told investigators she paid $3,500 for 22 injections on May 26, 2009. The procedure lasted 20 minutes. Afterward, she could not remove a cotton ball that Morris had attached to the injection site with Superglue.
“It looked good and felt good for a year or so, but then I started to have discolorations,” Linton told The Miami Herald Tuesday.
According to her police complaint, Linton suffered respiratory problems and began coughing up blood and having difficulty breathing. She became unconscious and was rushed to the emergency room.
Doctors told her she had pneumonia and found a chunk of bathroom caulking stuck in her lungs.
She was hospitalized for three weeks and continues to receive around-the-clock IV treatments to fight the infection, which continues to invade her system. She underwent two operations to have her buttocks drained, but needs further operations.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Linton said, weeping. “I am still so sick.”
Because of her illness, she hasn’t been able to work and she lost her home to foreclosure.
