A woman posing as a nurse has administered thousands of fake Botox injections and fillers at her Massachusetts beauty spa, 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 to offer fake beauty treatments through Skin Beaute Med Spa until this week, according to the criminal complaint filed in court, despite the fact that her offices in Randolph and South Easton had been searched.
Fadanelli was scheduled to appear in federal court in Worcester on Friday afternoon to face charges of importing and selling counterfeit drugs and devices, which carry the possibility of decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines upon conviction, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak about the charges.
“For years, Ms. Fadanelli allegedly endangered unsuspecting patients by posing as a nurse and then administered thousands of illegal, fraudulent injections,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement, saying she “ignored safety regulations against the importation of unapproved, counterfeit drugs and devices entered our country and endangered the health of hundreds of its customers.”
His office has asked anyone who believes they may have received counterfeit treatment at Skin Beaute Med Spa or through Fadanelli since 2021 to get in touch — 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, please complete the questionnaire located on the FDA website: https://t.co/dMMChu0S65.
— Massachusetts US Attorney (@DMAnews1) November 1, 2024
Fadanelli, an esthetician who is not licensed or certified to dispense 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 were already looking into whether Fadanelli, who goes by Rebecca Daley and Rebecca Hawthorne, when a customer filed a complaint with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration saying she had “bumps” on her lips and forehead after taking of a filler. treatment by Fadanelli in Randolph and never received a copy of the prescription for the substance Fadanelli had injected despite requesting it, according to court documents.
In subsequent years, investigators seized packages of what appeared to be fake 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. An investigation found no record of Fadanelli purchasing the actual prescription drugs through the companies that make them.
When agents searched the Skin Beaute Med Spa businesses in late June, Fadanelli allegedly told them that a registered nurse is the only person who administers the drugs, but a former employee told investigators that Fadanelli administered the drugs, saying she was nurse.
The former employee also said she was told Botox cost $50 through a China-based e-commerce platform, according to the criminal complaint, which noted that genuine Botox costs more than 10 times that. The employee also claimed that when her packages began being intercepted, Fadanelli began sending them to different addresses, including one she knew in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
A confidential source had a consultation in April with Fadanelli in which she quoted $450 for a Botox treatment, according to the complaint. The same source called and made a treatment appointment with Fadanelli last week.
