PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — WPTV keeps digging into a now-closed cosmetic surgery center in Port St. Lucie that led to four recent arrests.
We wanted to know why it took two years from the initial complaint until the arrests.
WPTV reporter Jon Shainman spoke with plastic surgeon Dr. Greg DeLange this week, who saw some of the victims after their initial work at the now-closed Cosmetica Plastic Surgery in Port St. Lucie
"What I do takes 10-15 years of training, and they were going for a long time until the state shut them down," DeLange said.
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Port St. Lucie police said Cosmetica Plastic Surgery started as a legitimate business with a doctor.
But investigators said staff ended up taking over and performing procedures without the doctor's knowledge and one man, Adley DaSilva, was performing surgery, but was only a physician's assistant.
The initial complaints were filed in 2022, and Cosmetica was shut down in 2023. Right now, police said they have four victims in the case. WPTV spoke with Port St. Lucie's police chief about why it took until 2024 to make arrests in this case.
"These cases take some time. You have to track the victims involved. You have to get cooperation from victims. A lot of time there's shame involved if something was botched," Chief Richard Del Toro said. "You have to get a lot of subpoenas. Then you have track witnesses down, going thorough interviews. There are a lot of HIPPA issues. Then you have the Department of Health doing all their things with the medical licenses and all the things administratively on their side."
Del Toro said he has not seen an uptick in these types of cases, but was glad the facility was shut down last year because based on his experience, he believes there are likely more victims out there.
"Surgery is an important process. It has risks and it has benefits," Port St. Lucie plastic surgeon Dr. Donato Viggiano.
Viggiano said it's important for patients who want a plastic surgeon to make sure that's who they're dealing with.
In 2023, state lawmakers passed a bill mandating the use of ultrasound guidance during Brazilian Butt Lift procedures.
This year, the governor signed into law a bill where surgical offices that perform gluteal fat grafting procedures have to establish financial responsibility.
"In the state of Florida, any surgeon can do any procedure can do any procedure in their office, and I think that's unfortunate," Viggiano said.
DaSilva posted bail on Tuesday. WPTV went by his last listed address in Stuart, but no one came to the door.
