A woman is accused of killing a transgender Atlanta performer by injecting her with silicone, officials say.
Deanna M. Roberts pretended she was a medical professional and injected liquid silicone into the buttocks, hips, lips and other body parts of customers for enhancement of those areas, in exchange for money, United States Attorney John A. Horn said Wednesday in a news release.
Last November, Lateasha Shuntel, a popular transgender performer, posted a Facebook message thanking Roberts by name, and referencing the pain in her buttocks, intimating it was due to injections, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Shuntel, who was also known as Lateasha Hall, was found dead at her home in Doraville the next day.
Roberts was arrested Tuesday at her Florida home and held without bond because the federal court judge considered her a danger to the community.
Charges against Roberts include knowingly possessing and transporting liquid silicone across state lines and injecting it into several patients.
Roberts purchased 178 gallons of liquid silicone from an Arizona-based business between 2004 and 2015, Horn said.
Before she was allowed to buy the silicone, Roberts was required to certify that it was not intended to be injected into humans. The Food and Drug Administration strictly regulates liquid silicone, which is only permitted to treat certain eye conditions and not for bodily injections.
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