Issaquah, Burien salon owners held in federal crackdown

One salon owner injected mystery chemicals into women's faces, causing reactions so severe that one woman had to get plastic surgery, prosecutors charge. The two owners of another salon tried to bribe a federal inspector to overlook a dangerous, radiation-emitting laser device, the authorities say.

Now all three are facing separate federal indictments that could mean prison sentences, part of a recent crackdown on unlicensed cosmetic care, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Xin "Faith" He, 46, of Issaquah, who runs the Natural Beauty salon in Bellevue, is charged with injecting counterfeit Restylane, a prescription wrinkle remover, into customers' faces, scarring them permanently. The substance was actually a Chinese concoction, and prosecutors said they still don't know what it was. She is also charged with offering counterfeit Botox for sale.

In a separate case, Toan Le, 51, and his wife, Hang Ho, 41, who run the Crystal Nails parlor in Burien, have been indicted on two counts of bribery of a public official. The indictment contends the couple offered $500 and then $800 to a federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspector to overlook a dangerous, radiation-emitting laser skin-treatment device they had imported.

All three appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge James Donohue on Tuesday. Ho and Le were expected to be released pending trial. Xin He was held overnight for arraignment today.

Xin He could face up to three years in prison, while Le and Ho could face up to 15 years behind bars, prosecutors said.

Xin He is not associated with Le and Ho. Their cases were brought as part of a larger national effort to rein in unlicensed cosmetic treatments, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Dimke.

According to the prosecutors, a Snohomish woman visited the Natural Beauty salon in 2004 and was injected with a substance drawn from a bottle with Chinese characters on it. She was told it was Restylane, a prescription-only drug for smoothing skin that must be administered by a doctor.

The Snohomish woman's face became inflamed and she had to seek treatment from a dermatologist, prosecutors said. Xin He is a licensed manicurist and aesthetician — someone who gives facials and waxes — but not a doctor or a licensed health-care provider of any kind, the indictment said.

In 2006, the state Health Department ordered He to quit administering such substances, but two years later, in April 2008, she injected a Bothell woman with the phony Restylane, prosecutors said. That woman's face became hard and swollen, and she had to get plastic surgery.

Agents raided the salon, at 11004 N.E. 11th St., and seized "numerous vials of injectable substances labeled in Chinese characters," the prosecutors said.

Dimke said unlicensed salon operators prey on women who seek cheaper alternatives to plastic surgery. But people should take these cases as a warning that such procedures are "incredibly dangerous," she said.

"They should not be allowing unlicensed people to inject substances into their skin."

At the Crystal Nails salon at 15728 First Ave. S. in Burien, owners Le and Ho last month attempted to import an unlicensed laser device that is not approved by the FDA and emitted unknown amounts of radiation, prosecutors charge.

When an FDA consumer-safety officer showed up to inspect the device, the owners offered her $500 to let them keep it, then upped the offer to $800, prosecutors say.

According to the indictment, Ho told the officer that if she helped them keep the device, "we will give you a present."

Cooperating with law enforcement, the FDA officer accepted an envelope with $800 in it, the indictment says.

In court Tuesday, Le's attorney said his client is a naturalized citizen from Vietnam who has lived in the area for about three decades and has no criminal record. Le and Ho have two grown children and also run a nail parlor in Covington.

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com