Phony plastic surgeon sentenced to prison after yearslong extradition fight

Eagle file photo by David Brand.

By David Brand

A Rosedale woman who administered a toxic silicone butt injection that killed a woman in 2015 was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday.

Donna Francis, 38, pumped the toxic material into a Baltimore woman’s buttocks in an augmentation surgery gone horribly wrong. The victim, Kelly Mayhew, traveled from Baltimore and paid Francis — who lacks a nursing or medical license — $1,600 for the procedure. Mayhew began experiencing severe discomfort during the procedure and died soon after. 

The sentence handed down by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder marked the end of yearslong saga following the botched operation. Francis fled to England after Mayhew’s death and was extradited back to the United States earlier this year. As part of the extradition agreement and plea deal, Francis could not be sentenced for more than one year and she could not be detained on Rikers Island.

The conditions of the extradition agreement frustrated Holder. 

“I have to say that the phrase ‘getting away with murder’ certainly applies to you and to say that I'm not happy with this plea and sentence is an understatement,” Holder said. 

Mayhew will serve her sentence in Nassau County Correctional Center.

“In the end it's some truly contemptible behavior you undertook here,” Holder said. “If you have a conscience, then, the unfortunate actions you undertook here that took the life of this young lady should haunt you far longer then the one-year sentence I'm imposing.”