Massachusetts
Woman gave fake Botox injections at her Mass. beauty spas for years, feds say
A woman posing as a nurse has given thousands of injections of counterfeit Botox and fillers at her Massachusetts beauty spas, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Rebecca Fadanelli, 38, was arrested Friday on suspicion of importing fake Botox and the fillers Sculptra and Juvederm from Brazil and China, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts said. The Stoughton woman continued offering counterfeit beauty treatments through Skin Beaute Med Spa up through this week, according to the criminal complaint filed in court, despite her offices in Randolph and South Easton having been searched.
Fadanelli was due in federal court in Worcester Friday afternoon to face charges of importing and and selling counterfeit drugs and devices, which bring the possibility of decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for a conviction, prosecutors said. It wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
“For years, Ms. Fadanelli allegedly put unsuspecting patients at risk by representing herself to be a nurse and then administering thousands of illegal, counterfeit injections,” acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement, saying she “ignored safety regulations against bringing unapproved, counterfeit drugs and devices into our country and endangered the health of hundreds of her clients.”
His office asked anyone who believes they may have gotten a counterfeit treatment at Skin Beaute Med Spa or through Fadanelli since 2021 to reach out — see the link below.
If you or a family member believe you received services involving a counterfeit drug or counterfeit device from Fadanelli and/or Skin Beaute Med Spa between 2021- present date, please complete the questionnaire located on the FDA’s website: https://t.co/dMMCHu0S65.
— U.S. Attorney Massachusetts (@DMAnews1) November 1, 2024
Fadanelli an aesthetician who isn’t licensed or certified to give prescription drugs, collected more than half a million dollars from Botox appointments and more than $400,000 from filler appointments between March 2021 and March 2024, prosecutors said.
Federal customs investigators had already been looking into whether Fadanelli, who also goes by Rebecca Daley and Rebecca Hawthorne, when a client filed a complaint to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying she had “bumps” in her lips and forehead tingling after receiving a filler treatment from Fadanelli in Randolph and never received a copy of the prescription for the substance that Fadanelli had injected despite asking for it, according to the court documents.
Over the next few years, investigators seized packages with apparently counterfeit injectable prescription drugs labeled Botox, Sculptra and Juvederm, and found her entering the country at Boston’s Logan International Airport with prescription drugs and vials of liquid, the documents said. A search turned up no record of Fadanelli buying the real prescription drugs through the companies that make them.
When agents searched the Skin Beaute Med Spa businesses in late June, Fadanelli allegedly told them a certified nurse is the only person who administers the drugs, but a former employee told investigators that Fadanelli administered the drugs, saying she was a nurse.
The former employee also said that she’d been told the Botox cost $50 through a China-based ecommerce platform, according to the criminal complain, which noted that authentic Botox costs more than 10 times as much. The employee also claimed that when her packages started to be intercepted, Fadanelli began shipping them to different addresses, including to an acquaintance in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
A confidential source had an April consultation with Fadanelli in which she quoted $450 for a Botox treatment, according to the complaint. That same source called and made an appointment for a treatment with Fadanelli last week.
Massachusetts
State police say Friday’s storm caused 200 crashes across Massachusetts
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Massachusetts
Dangerousness hearing held for Taunton man in Fall River after Massachusetts, Rhode Island State Police make trafficking arrest involving Bristol, Plymouth, RI counties
A dangerousness hearing was held Friday for a Bristol County man after a drug trafficking investigation led to his arrest.
According to Massachusetts State Police, during May and June of this year, members of the Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction Enforcement Team – South initiated an investigation into narcotics trafficking. Intelligence revealed that 33-year-old Jason Hodo of Taunton was distributing trafficking quantities of fentanyl and cocaine in Rhode Island and throughout Plymouth and Bristol Counties in Massachusetts. Investigators completed extensive traditional and covert surveillance, record checks, and intelligence analysis. The investigation led to warrants being sought and granted to search for all controlled substances at all locations related to Hodo.
In June, executing officers followed Hodo in his vehicle after he departed the Rhode Island location and drove to a Taunton gas station. Hodo was detained, searched, and arrested after amounts of fentanyl and cocaine were located. Members then executed the “knock and announce” search warrants without incident at locations in both states.
The searches in Massachusetts led to the seizure of approximately 528 grams of fentanyl, 206 grams of cocaine, and nearly $22,000 from Hodo’s person and vehicle. Hodo was eventually transported to State Police-Middleboro for booking on charges related to Trafficking Class A and Class B Substances.
A simultaneous search of the Rhode Island location by Rhode Island State Police revealed the following: two firearms loaded with high-capacity magazines, approximately 12 grams of fentanyl, nearly $19,000, several high value bars of gold, jewelry, and a diamond/gold chain with receipt for $103,000.
Previously in Fall River Superior Court, Hodo pled not guilty at his arraignment and was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Friday.
On Friday, also in Fall River Superior Court, dangerousness was taken under advisement with Hodo still held without bail.
His next scheduled court appearance is a pre-trial conference in February.
Massachusetts
Mass. State Lottery winner: Lucky store sold 6 winning tickets Friday
It was the final day of the fall, but for one store in Arlington, it was their luckiest day of the year.
On Friday, Dec. 20, Peter Pan Superette in Arlington sold six winning Keno tickets, each worth $9,600.
While over the course of the year the store has at times sold two winners in one day, Friday was the only time in 2024 the total grew to six.
Overall, at least 565 worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Friday, including six in Springfield, 29 in Worcester and 42 in Boston.
The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.
So far, the largest lottery prize won in Massachusetts this year was worth $1 million a year for life.
The prize was from the lottery’s “Lifetime Millions” scratch ticket game. The winner claimed their prize through a trust on July 10, and opted to receive a one-time payment of $15.4 million.
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