HOUSTON – A woman has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a woman to whom she gave illegal silicone buttocks injections while unlicensed, court documents say.
Lisa Fernandez, 47, appeared before a judge Wednesday and was given a $40,000 bond. As a condition of bond, she was ordered not to act as a beauty consultant or perform any body-altering procedures.
According to court documents, 39-year-old Marja McClendon traveled to Houston from St. Louis, Missouri, on April 24, 2018, for the procedure.
Her older sister, DeShonna Arnold of Katy, says she was surprised when McClendon called her from the airport that April.
“She was just like ‘Hey sister I’m here!’ and I’m like ‘what are you doing here? It’s something going on.’ And I found out she was going to get an injection,” Arnold told KPRC 2.
It was not McClendon’s first procedure, or the first time she had traveled to Houston for injections her sister said.
“She always thought she had a flat butt and she wanted to enhance her look. I’m like, ‘Sister, you don’t need to do that. You’re fine the way you are,’ and she was like, ‘No girl, I need to get this butt together, I need a big butt.’ Not knowing she was going to lose her life,” Arnold said.
During the procedure, McClendon reportedly experienced shortness of breath and coughing.
A witness said Fernandez had to stop the procedure several times after McClendon complained of being in pain. According to court documents, the woman was taken to a hospital where she was evaluated and let go.
“She wasn’t feeling good and we went back to the house and she still wasn’t feeling good. She was oozing saline or whatever, it was out of her buttocks. I’m trying to take her back to the hospital and she said, ‘No, I don’t wanna go. I’ve got to get back home to my kids,” Arnold recalled.
According to court documents, McClendon wanted her money back but Fernandez refused, which lead to a verbal altercation. McClendon reportedly decided to continue with the second round of injections the next day.
McClendon began having even more difficulties and started coughing up blood the next day, according to investigators. Court documents said she went back to the hospital before traveling back home to St. Louis, where she was hospitalized again and died on April 30, 2018.
Authorities said they used a series of text messages to confirm the date of McClendon’s procedure. Fernandez told prosecutors she knew the risks of the procedure if it was done incorrectly, including the lungs filling up with blood and death.
“I would like to know, what did you inject my sister with? What did you inject her with to kill her and why did you pick her to kill?” Arnold said.
Arnold says she wants justice for her sister and the three children she left behind. Arnold has custody of McClendon’s two oldest children.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office believes there may be other victims who have had botched procedures at the hands of Fernandez and they are asking them to come forward.