UPDATE, FEB. 9, 2:09 P.M.: In revealing the charges against Liborio De La Luz Ramos in connection with the death of Felipe De La Riva, prosecutors say the deceased 40-year-old transgender woman did not attend a silicone-injection party in Santa Ana as police there first thought but was injected at a hotel in Orange. Ramos was charged today with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of the unauthorized practice of medicine and was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon. The 44-year-old Santa Ana resident did not have a medical license or authorization to perform medical procedures in California, alleges the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA). It is believed De La Riva, who went by the first name Katya, was injected some time between Dec. 30-31.
]
The OCDA also accuses Ramos of having administered an anesthetic and injected silicone into a 28-year-old victim at Ramos' home on New Year's Day–the same day De La Riva checked herself in to Irvine's Kaiser Hospital. (The OCDA corrects that she first entered Kaiser Garden Grove and then was transferred to Kaiser Anaheim.) De La Riva was pronounced dead at the hospital on Jan. 21 from silicone embolism syndrome. The OCDA is requesting a judge set bail at $500,000 for Ramos, who faces up to four years and eight months in state prison with a conviction. Meanwhile, the investigation continues as police and prosecutors fear there are other victims out there. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 714.245.8390.
Transgender Woman's Death After Silicone Party Raises Alarm with Cops, LGBT Officials
ORIGINAL POST, FEB. 6, 3:03 P.M.: Homicide detectives have made an arrest in connection with the death of a 40-year-old transgender woman who attended a silicone-injection party in Santa Ana.
Liborio De La Luz Ramos, 44, of Santa Ana, was arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter and was held in lieu of $500,000 bail, according to a Santa Ana Police Department advisory.
The arrest comes as the result of an investigation into the death of the transgender woman who'd attended a December “silicone party” in Santa Ana, where the man in the process of becoming a woman received an injection in her buttocks. But she entered Irvine's Kaiser Hospital with respiratory problems on Jan. 1 and was pronounced dead on Jan. 21 from silicone embolism syndrome.
The death prompted hospital officials to contact the Orange County coroner, which in turn notified Santa Ana Police. Because the injection was received in a non-medical facility, police investigated the legality of the administered silicone, with the assistance of the Orange County District Attorney's Homicide Unit.
Detectives believe others received injections from Ramos and ask that such “victims” contact them at 714.245.8390.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.