A 33-year-old woman who claimed to be a licensed aesthetician was arrested during an entrapment operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI 7) inside a hotel in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, on July 19. The suspect was identified as Dimber Dela Cruz Celis, from Barangay Puerto, Cagayan De Oro City. Her arrest came after one of her clients reported to the NBI 7 office alleging that the suspect had infected her after performing face treatments on her, including jawtox and undereye filler inside the former’s hotel room in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, on April 15, 2024.
The victim said she then contacted Celis through the social media to get her advise about the situation, but the suspect did not reply and block her instead. As a result, the victim sought a second opinion from two physicians, who advised her to have the fillers removed since they would cause the bags under her eyes to enlarge even more. When the victim was able to get in touch with the suspect again on July 17, she was told that she would be traveling to Cebu City to have her complaint addressed, but she would need to pay an extra sum to finish the process.
On July 19, 2024, the victim reported the problem to the NBI-CEVRO, which set up the entrapment operation. When the NBI operatives saw Celis injecting a chemical into the victim's face during the entrapment operation on that same day, they moved quickly to arrest her. The suspect yielded used and unused needles and surgical gloves stored insi.