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March 29, 2024

Woman charged with unlicensed plastic surgery fails to appear in Las Vegas court

Judge issues no-bail warrant for woman, who is thought to be in China

Jing Qu

Metro Police

Jing Qu, 55, of Flushing, N.Y., was arrested in connection with performing illegal surgical procedures.

Updated Tuesday, April 10, 2012 | 2:01 p.m.

A woman charged with performing unlicensed plastic surgery last November in the Las Vegas Valley has left the country.

Jing Qu, who was expected to appear on a felony arraignment this morning in Las Vegas Justice Court, did not make her court appearance. Her attorney, James Gallo, told the judge, “I do believe, actually, she is in China.”

Justice of the Peace Eugene Martin issued a no-bail bench warrant for her arrest.

Qu, who had listed her address as Flushing, N.Y., was free on $110,000 bail. She had been charged with one count of burglary and two counts of practicing medicine without a license for performing eye lifts and injections on two women Nov. 7, 2011, in a home in the southwestern part of the Las Vegas Valley.

If convicted of the burglary charge — for coming into a residence to commit a felony (the two unlicensed surgeries) — Qu faces a sentence that could range from probation to a maximum of 10 years in prison. For each of the two charges of practicing medicine without a license, she faces a sentence that could range from probation to a maximum of four years and a $5,000 fine.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Tom Carrol said the next step will be for the state to seek to recover the $110,000 bond she posted. To keep that from happening, the bond company will try to locate her, Carrol predicted.

Carrol said the district attorney’s office could also look into the possibility of an international extradition, which would be rare. He said that would entail his office contacting the U.S. Department of Justice and finding out what kind of an extradition treaty the U.S. has with China.

Gallo told the judge that Qu had been considering entering into a written plea agreement with the district attorney’s office.

“I’ve gone over the plea agreement with her in great detail with a Mandarin-speaking lawyer who is licensed to practice in the state of Nevada,” Gallo said. Gallo also said he made her aware of the repercussions of not attending Tuesday’s mandatory hearing.

“She’s indicated the case has cost her a lot of anxiety and depression,” Gallo said.

Gallo told the judge he has had contact with her through a telephone call and through e-mail last week.

“I think there is little option but to issue a warrant,” the judge said.

Gallo said he would remain on as her attorney “in case she changes her mind.”

According to Metro police, officers responded Nov. 7, 2011, to a home in the 7700 block of Somerhill Point Way after receiving a phone call from a neighbor who reported the surgery.

The neighbor had gone over to the home to complain about a vehicle blocking a driveway and saw three people inside the home performing surgery, police said.

According to a police report, when officers arrived they saw a portable padded massage table set up in the living room and saw one bloody latex glove on the living room floor and another in the bathroom.

Officers also said they saw that the homeowner, Ping Zhang, had a bandage over her right eye, the police report said.

Officers then made contact with a second woman, Hong Sheng, who had stitches above both eyebrows and had dried blood still on her left forehead, the arrest report said.

Sheng told officers that she knew Qu from their home town of Bejing, China, and had paid Qu $800 for an eyelift surgical procedure. Sheng said Qu injected her with a substance for pain before the procedure, the arrest report said.

Zhang told police she paid Qu $1,000 for her eye lift surgery, and that Qu had injected her with a painkiller prior to the procedure, according to the arrest report.

Through a Mandarin Chinese interpreter, Qu told police she was a physician in China who specialized in plastic surgery but was not licensed to practice medicine in the U.S., according to the arrest report.

During a search of the home police uncovered medical items such as gauze, hemostats and surgical blades, police said. Police said they also found local anesthetics and other unknown medications, many of which were labeled in Chinese.

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