Fake Cosmetologist Charged After Connecticut Mom Dies from Botched Back-Alley Silicone Butt Injections and Is Dumped Half-Naked at Bronx Hospital

A 47-year-old Mount Vernon woman has been charged with criminally negligent homicide after allegedly performing unlicensed back-alley silicone butt injections that killed a Connecticut mother, then dumping her unconscious and half-naked at a Bronx hospital.

Maxine Messam, 53, of Bridgeport, was dumped at Jacobi Medical Center just before 2 a.m. on February 15, 2022, according to police and the Bronx District Attorney’s office.

Messam was unconscious, unresponsive, and without pants, with multiple injection marks visible on her buttocks.

Two women pulled her from the vehicle, placed her on a gurney, and wheeled her inside. They told hospital staff they had found her in distress outside Woodlawn Cemetery and then left the scene.

Messam was pronounced dead at the hospital from cardiac arrest linked to the silicone substance injected into her body, according to the criminal complaint and indictment.

Alicia “Toya” Leslie, 47, of Mount Vernon, was arrested earlier this month and charged with criminally negligent homicide and unauthorized practice of a profession.

Prosecutors say Leslie, who held no license to practice medicine or cosmetic surgery, injected the silicone in Messam’s behind.

Investigators recovered text messages between Leslie and Messam arranging to meet for the procedure that day, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

Leslie was one of the women seen dumping Messam at the hospital while claiming to be a good Samaritan; the second woman has not been charged.

Leslie was arraigned before Judge Pamela Goldsmith and released on supervised release without bail. She is scheduled to appear in court again on November 4.

The fake cosmetologist’s attorney, Kyle Watters, told the New York Daily News that Leslie denies the allegations and looks forward to her day in court. Watters described his client as married with children and the owner of an interstate trucking company.

Leslie has prior arrests, including petit larceny, grand larceny, and possession of stolen property.