NYC Beautician Admits To Fatal Butt Injection

CHELSEA, NY — A beautician pleaded guilty on Monday to charges stemming from a butt injection that killed a woman in 2013, prosecutors said.

Tamira Mobley, a beautician with no medical training, admitted to causing a 22-year-old student's death during a black market silicone injection in 2013. The student and mother of one, Tamara Blaine, died in July 2013 after Mobley injected her butt with silicone, the fourth such injection Blaine was believed to have bought from Mobley, according to authorities.

Mobley met Blaine at the Liberty Inn in the Meatpacking District, a pay-by-the-hour hotel typically used for romantic trysts. Blaine suffered a seizure after she was injected, and Mobley is believed to have waited 90 minutes while Blaine writhed before calling for emergency help, authorities said. Blaine died shortly after.

Mobley wasn't charged until nearly eight months later, after an exhaustive investigation traced the illegal injection back to her. The city's medical examiner ruled Blaine's death a homicide, and said that the silicone entered Blaine's bloodstream, causing embolisms and asphyxiating her. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Mobley, 32, pleaded guilty on Monday to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and unauthorized practice of a profession, Pix11 was first to report. She is expected to be sentenced next year. She faces between 1 1/3 to four years in prison, although prosecutors said they had requested between 3 1/3 to 10 years.

Plastic surgeons who offer butt augmentation surgeries generally charge more than $4,000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Some patients opt for much cheaper black market procedures performed by people with no medical training. Such procedures are known to have killed a number of women throughout the U.S.

Image credit: Win McNamee / Staff / Getty Images News