Toxic butt injector pleads guilty to criminally negligent homicide

By David Brand

A Queens woman who injected toxic silicone into a woman’s backside during a fatal basement plastic surgery job pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide Friday.

Donna Francis, 39, pumped the silicone gel into the woman’s butt inside the basement of her Far Rockaway home in 2015. The substance proved poisonous and the patient, Kelly Mayhew, went into cardiac arrest and died. 

“In pleading guilty, the defendant has now admitted to causing the death of a young woman who sought a cosmetic procedure at a discount and paid with her life,” said Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan. 

Francis fled to London, but returned to Queens following a lengthy extradition battle. She pleaded guilty before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder and faces up to a year behind bars under the extradition agreement. Holder set sentencing for Nov. 14. 

Mayhew had traveled from Maryland for the butt augmentation procedure and paid Francis $1,600 — a discount compared to the procedure when performed by a licensed plastic surgeon.

Mayhew’s mother called 911 when her Mayhew began showing signs of distress, prosecutors said. The New York City medical examiner said the cause of death was systemic silicone emboli.

The extradition agreement also stipulates that Francis cannot be incarcerated at Rikers Island. She will spend her sentence at Suffolk County Jail.