Health
Madam Gets 10 Years After Buttocks-Enhancement Death
MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former madam who performed illegal “body sculpting” was sentenced Thursday to 10 to 20 years in prison after the death of a dancer whose heart stopped after nearly half a gallon of silicone was injected into her buttocks.
Padge-Victoria Windslowe told jurors during her spring murder trial that clients call her “the Michelangelo of buttocks injections.” But prosecutors say she had no medical training and used deadly products on vulnerable women, including fellow members of the transgender community who wanted curves.
The judge called her a narcissist who sought fame and fortune as a serial — if underground — entrepreneur, but then became childlike when things went wrong.
“I don’t think you’re evil,” Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi told the defendant. “You don’t believe that you must follow the rules of society. … It showed in the courtroom.”
Around the country, several women have died and an unknown number of others have been injured from similar cosmetic procedures. Two salon workers in Dallas were charged with murder this week in a February buttocks-injection death.
The judge was especially troubled that Windslowe resumed the illegal injections after Claudia Aderotimi died in 2011. Aderotimi, a 20-year-old college student and competitive dancer from London, and a friend had flown in to Philadelphia for $1,800 “touch-ups” with Windslowe in an airport hotel room.
The woman they knew only as “Lillian” arrived with the tools of her trade: a water bottle filled with liquid silicone, a red plastic cup, needles and syringes, and Krazy Glue to close the puncture wounds. But she apparently struck a vein when she injected Aderotimi. The cheap silicone soon spread to her lungs. She was dead hours later.
“It was not for money. I liked the appreciation they gave me because I was helping them,” Windslowe, 45, said Thursdsay. “Being transgender, for so many years … I was imprisoned in my mind. When someone helped me with those injections, I basically felt like an ugly duckling turned into a swan.”
Windslowe went into hiding for months after the death, but resumed her work at “pumping parties,” including one that left a stripper with permanent respiratory problems.
“I’m sure you didn’t intend to hurt (Aderotimi),” DeFino-Nastasi said. “But you came back and you did it again. … That’s very troublesome. That’s magical thinking.”
Prosecutors complained Thursday that Windslowe, while in prison, has been distributing fund-raising fliers for a supposed $50 memorial walk in the victim’s name. The judge ordered her to stop.
Windslowe once ran a transgender escort service and performed as “the Black Madam” in Gothic hip-hop videos.
In her colorful trial testimony, she name-dropped the likes of rappers Nicki Minaj and Kanye West, along with a former Roman Catholic archbishop who she claimed had baptized her “Genevieve” after her sex change. She said clients sought her out all over the world.
“I was the best, and I don’t mean that to be cocky,” Windslowe told jurors.
They convicted her of third-degree murder — rejecting a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge — along with aggravated assault for the stripper’s injuries and a weapons charge involving the needle. The judge ordered six years of probation after her release.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Community
Calif. Dept. of Public Health: Got Milk Allergies? Don’t Eat Dave’s Bakery Cornbread
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a warning on Jan. 26, instructing consumers with milk allergies or “severe sensitivity to milk” in the state to not eat Dave’s Bakery Corn Bread due to “risk of illness.” The CDPH warns that consumption of the corn bread manufactured by a Gardena-based company — with expiration dates up to June 18, 2024 — may lead to “life threatening” reactions.
By California Black Media
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a warning on Jan. 26, instructing consumers with milk allergies or “severe sensitivity to milk” in the state to not eat Dave’s Bakery Corn Bread due to “risk of illness.”
The CDPH warns that consumption of the corn bread manufactured by a Gardena-based company — with expiration dates up to June 18, 2024 — may lead to “life threatening” reactions.
“This warning applies only to the Corn Bread produced by Bake R Us, DBA Dave’s Baking Company and distributed to schools, retail facilities and in vending machines primarily in southern California,” the DCPH statement reads.
“This product should not be confused with other similarly named companies with national distribution,” it continues.
According to the CDPH, although the corn bread product contains whey, which is a milk allergen, there is no allergy warning label on the packaging, though it is required by state law.
So far, authorities say, no illnesses have been reported in the state, but if anyone finds the products on sale anywhere in the state, they should call the CDPH complaint hotline at (800) 495-3232 or file a report online at CDPH.ca.gov
The CDPH is also recommending that people who have eaten the product and are experiencing any reaction or ill effects should consult their health care provider.
Bay Area
East Bay Regional Park District Issues Rattlesnake Advisory
The East Bay Regional Park District released an advisory today on rattlesnakes, which emerge from winter hibernation in early spring and become more active. Warm weather can bring more potential for rattlesnake encounters with humans and dogs, particularly along trails and roads.
The Richmond Standard
The East Bay Regional Park District released an advisory today on rattlesnakes, which emerge from winter hibernation in early spring and become more active.
Warm weather can bring more potential for rattlesnake encounters with humans and dogs, particularly along trails and roads.
Visitors are encouraged to avoid hiking alone in case of an emergency, to scan the ground ahead as they walk, jog or ride, stay on trails avoiding tall grass, and to look carefully around and under logs and rocks before sitting down. Keep your dog on your leash to be extra safe, park officials said.
If you encounter a rattlesnake, leave it alone – it is unlawful to capture or harm one. Move carefully and slowly away or around it and give it plenty of space, park officials said.
Those who are bitten by a rattlesnake are instructed to stay calm by lying down with the affected limb lower than the heart, then having someone call 911.
Getting medical attention is critical.
Those bitten should not use tourniquets, “sucking,” or snake bite kits. If you are by yourself, walk calmly to the nearest source of help to dial 911, do not run.
If bitten by any other type of snake, wash the wound with soap and water or an antiseptic and seek medical attention.
Not sure what bit you? Check the bite for two puncture marks (in rare cases one) associated with intense, burning pain, which is typical of a rattlesnake bite. Other snakebites can leave marks without associated burning pain.
The Northern Pacific rattlesnake is the species found in East Bay Regional Parks. Snakes are important to the natural environment, helping to control rodents and other reptile populations. But enjoy them from afar.
For more information, download the Park District’s Common Snakes brochure or watch our Gopher Snake or Rattlesnake video to learn how to tell the difference between rattlesnakes and gopher snakes. Additional information is available at ebparks.org/safety/wildlife-encounters.
Alameda County
A Safe Place, Bay Area Domestic Violence Community Organization, Opens New Service Center in Oakland
Oakland-Bay Area non-profit, A Safe Place, announces the grand opening of its newly purchased building in Oakland that will be a service center for families that have suffered from domestic violence. The new, two-story building has over six new service rooms for counseling, mental health support groups, legal services, children’s treatment, safe space for community engagement, and partnership activities.
By Courtney Slocum Riley
Special to The Post
Oakland-Bay Area non-profit, A Safe Place, announces the grand opening of its newly purchased building in Oakland that will be a service center for families that have suffered from domestic violence.
The new, two-story building has over six new service rooms for counseling, mental health support groups, legal services, children’s treatment, safe space for community engagement, and partnership activities.
Domestic violence occurrences and offenses account for a considerable amount of all violent crimes in Alameda County. A Safe Place is attempting to provide a safe place for families to heal. A Safe Place is the only comprehensive domestic violence assistance program including a safehouse, in Oakland.
The grand opening celebration will also serve as a fundraiser to build out healing, therapeutic spaces for children and adult victims and survivors and survivors of domestic violence (male and female).
The new service center will expand the work of the organization, founded in 1976 when a group of women working in San Francisco came together to address the urgent need for a shelter in the East Bay. A year later, they founded A Safe Place (ASP) in Oakland. Run solely by volunteers, they set up a crisis line to offer crisis counseling and information to battered women and their children.
The organization serves over 500 adults and children annually through a host of services including crisis counseling via 24-hour crisis line, emergency motel and safehouse sheltering, mental health services (counseling and support groups).
Under the leadership of Executive Director, Carolyn Russell, the organization has grown from a single program into the comprehensive domestic violence and assistance program. ASP strives to meet the growing and diverse needs of our growing community.
The organization hopes to complete all the upgrades and therapeutic room improvements by August 2024. The public is invited to donate to the effort by using the website at www.asafeplace.org/donate. The organization also accepts in-kind gifts as well as items from the organization’s Amazon Wishlist.
-
City Government2 weeks ago
Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
-
Community4 weeks ago
Oakland WNBA Player to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame
-
Community4 weeks ago
Richmond Nonprofit Helps Ex-Felons Get Back on Their Feet
-
Community4 weeks ago
RPAL to Rename Technology Center for Retired Police Captain Arthur Lee Johnson
-
Alameda County2 weeks ago
An Oakland Homeless Shelter Is Showing How a Housing and Healthcare First Approach Can Work: Part 1
-
Business4 weeks ago
Black Business Summit Focuses on Equity, Access and Data
-
Bay Area4 weeks ago
MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS