A New York woman has been accused of posing as a dentist and running an illegal practice that left patients with “facial paralysis and nerve damage”, police say.
Yolany Y. Mejia Carranza, 55, has been charged with three counts of unauthorized practice of a profession as she “was [found to be] operating as a dentist without actually being a dentist”, announced Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina during a press conference Friday.
Police believe she was targeting victims from the Hispanic community in the Bay Shore area for roughly eight years – most of whom were illegal immigrants, they added, who did not have health insurance. Now officials are asking for more potential victims to come forward.
Suffolk County detectives received tips from three patients, alleging that Carranza had inflicted injuries on them through dangerous dental operations. For one patient, the woman’s backstreet operation “caused severe nerve damage that led to partial facial paralysis”, Catalina said. The victim was not named by officials.
Carranza had been working covertly inside her home, along Heckscher Avenue in Bay Shore, said police.
The woman would allegedly use “local anesthesia,” on her patients “but nobody was getting the anesthesia necessary for the complex dental operations she was conducting”, added Catalina.
When police searched her Bay Shore home, they found a “fully functioning dentist’s office”, revealed Catalina.
Antibiotics from overseas were also found inside the alleged fraudulent practitioners’ home, said police, as per ABC7.
Detectives believe Carranza previously ran another illegal dentistry business on Broadway in Huntington Station – roughly 15 miles away.
A neighbor looked on as police raided Carranza's backstreet dental practice.
Alfredo Valle told ABC7, that it was "Pretty shocking. Out of nowhere. After a long day of work, [I] saw 15 cars of police officers in my neighborhood.”
Commissioner Catalina urged possible victims to come forward regardless of any fears they may have concerning apprehension over their immigration status.
He stated: “We want to ensure any complainants that the Suffolk County Police Department will never enquire about your immigration status.”
“So please come forward and if you have been a victim of Carranza, please contact us”, he added.
Carranza was arraigned Friday and scheduled to be back in court on April 1.
Anyone with information or who believes they are a victim is asked to contact the Third Squad at 631-854-8352 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
