Medicare fraud convict re-arrested for illegal Botox injection

A woman is facing prison time for two Miami-esque crimes — Medicare fraud and illegal cosmetic procedures.

Gabriela Alegria, who was awaiting sentencing in a Medicare fraud scam, was re-arrested this week as police say she was about to illegally inject an undercover detective with Botox.

A Miami-Dade judge on Friday morning ordered that Alegria, 43, must post a $50,000 bond and go on house arrest on charges of practicing healthcare without a license and illegal possession of a prescription drug.

Alegria was arrested after an undercover Miami-Dade detective, posing as a customer needing a fill in the eyebrow area, went to a home in West Kendall.

“She prepared the syringe. She had the Botox, or what we believe was Botox — Lord knows what it actually is,” Miami-Dade prosecutor Warren Eth told a bond-court judge.

Alegria, a mother of two, earlier pleaded guilty to money laundering in a Medicare fraud case in Miami federal court. She was arrested in July in a scheme that is believed to have defrauded the government of more than $700,000.

She was out on bond while awaiting sentencing in the case.

In the past decade, Miami-Dade County has become a hotbed for both Medicare fraud and illegal cosmetic procedures, each producing a steady stream of high-profile arrests.

Last month, the feds broke up what they said was a $1 billion Medicare scam, believed to be the largest in U.S. history. In May, Miami-Dade detectives arrested a suspected sham doctor for performing a butt-enhancement injection that claimed the life of a 28-year-old woman.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 10:22 AM with the headline "Medicare fraud convict re-arrested for illegal Botox injection."