Several Customers End Up With HIV After Trying Out Vampire Facials At Dubious Beauty Salon

A beauty salon owner is facing serious charges after offering an unusual kind of service to customers. She was identified as 59-year-old Maria Ramos de Ruiz who reportedly gave celebrities like the Kardashians and Chrissy Teigen unauthorized treatments.

It turns out that the owner misled her customers with fake diplomas to do the service. This included removing blood from the body before reinserting them to the face of customers with tiny needles. This left at least two people out of a reported 137 with HIV.

Now, the former owner of the VIP beauty salon and Spa in New Mexico, US is facing more than 20 felony counts. That included racketeering, tax evasion, fraud and practicing medicine without a license per a report from People.com.

Ramos de Ruiz reportedly offered the service known as vampire facials and was charged on Monday last week after two contracted HIV from the said service. The indictment was officially announced by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office on Apr. 21.

"The New Mexico Department of Health in August 2018 learned a person with no risk factors for HIV had contracted the bloodborne infection after getting a 'vampire facial' at the VIP Beauty Salon and Spa," an official statement read. "The DOH, the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, and deputy director of Boards and Commissions inspected the VIP Spa the following month."

It should be noted that Ramos de Ruiz did have a cosmetic license but this expired in 2013.

Aside from vampire facials being offered, the 59-year-old also does breast and buttocks sculpting and cellulite treatments. However, inspectors pointed out that there were several health code violations and unsafe infection control practices.

Per an official statement, this included unwrapped needles, blood being dumped into the kitchen sink and unlabeled syringes beside food in the refrigerator.