{"id":179634,"date":"2026-03-05T18:56:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179634\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:56:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:56:23","slug":"illegal-med-spa-in-backyard-shed-leads-to-arrest-in-port-st-lucie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179634\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal med spa in backyard shed leads to arrest in Port St. Lucie"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What began as a routine cosmetic procedure gone wrong ended in an arrest after a multi-agency investigation exposed a makeshift backyard Med Spa operating illegally out of a shed in Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n

On July 9, the Port St. Lucie Police Department, in partnership with PSL Code Enforcement, the Building Department, Business Tax officials, and the Florida Department of Health, arrested 50-year-old Rosa Mena following a months-long investigation triggered by a report of facial paralysis from an unlicensed Botox injection.<\/p>\n

The investigation began in May 2025, when a woman reported suffering facial paralysis after receiving what she believed to be a Botox injection at Mena\u2019s unlicensed Med Spa. The procedure took place in a converted shed behind Mena’s home, according to police. When confronted, Mena refunded the victim\u2019s $325 \u2014 but then urged her to return for a second round of injections, this time with vitamins allegedly meant to reverse the paralysis.<\/p>\n

See also: Two plead guilty in case linked to 2nd Trump assassination attempt; Routh wants new lawyer<\/a><\/p>\n

PSLPD said the victim requested proof of Mena’s qualifications, to which Mena responded with an altered certificate in phlebotomy, which was later confirmed to have expired in February 2024. Mena allegedly attempted to reassure the victim by claiming she was a licensed doctor from the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

A search warrant was executed at the home on N.W. Coosa Drive, off W. Blanton Boulevard. Inside the shed, authorities said they found a wide array of unlicensed and unregulated medical equipment and supplies, including:<\/p>\n

Medical beds and injectable devicesNeedles, vials, and medicationsLaser hair removal and laser lipo machinesFat sculpting and micro-needling devicesPRP injection tools and facial treatment gear\"Authorities<\/p>\n

Authorities executed a search warrant at a home on N.W. Coosa Drive, off W. Blanton Boulevard, where they discovered a shed filled with unlicensed and unregulated medical equipment and supplies, including medical beds, injectable devices, needles, vials, medications, laser hair removal and lipo machines, fat sculpting and micro-needling tools, as well as PRP injection and facial treatment equipment. (PSLPD)<\/p>\n

John Jones lives in the neighborhood and said it was filled with police causing those in the community to speculate that there was possibly a death. <\/p>\n

“There was probably like 10, 15 police cars and some wagon I didn\u2019t know what that was for,” Jones said. “Then all of a sudden I see a girl come out in handcuffs.”<\/p>\n

Nalin Patel said he was working when he heard police announce they were executing a search warrant. <\/p>\n

“I heard over the loudspeaker the police officer saying we have a search warrant 5831 please come to the door,” Patel said. “They repeated the message like 10, 15 times. Repeated it again in Spanish.”<\/p>\n

Mena was arrested without incident and is facing multiple felony counts, including:<\/p>\n

3 counts of aggravated battery causing bodily harm3 counts of practicing medicine without an active license1 count of fraud\u2014swindle to obtain property $300 or more1 count of fraud\u2014swindle to obtain property under $20,0001 count of use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony\"On<\/p>\n

On July 6, the Port St. Lucie Police Department, in partnership with PSL Code Enforcement, the Building Department, Business Tax officials, and the Florida Department of Health, arrested 50-year-old Rosa Mena following a months-long investigation triggered by a report of facial paralysis from an unlicensed Botox injection. (PSLPD)<\/p>\n

PSLPD urges the public to verify the credentials of any medical professional or cosmetic facility prior to undergoing treatment.<\/p>\n

“Procedures like Botox must be performed by a licensed professional,” officials said in a message. “Your safety is our priority.”<\/p>\n

Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a> to get the day’s top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel <\/a>for the biggest stories and can’t miss video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 What began as a routine cosmetic procedure gone wrong ended in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-179634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}