Miami-Dade woman accused of running 2 unlicensed post-op recovery homes

MDPD: Monica Garcia, 45, busted after cops saw woman, fresh out of surgery, laid on stomach in back of Honda Civic

Monica Garcia (MDCR/Copyright 2023 Google)

MIAMI – Police arrested a west Miami-Dade woman Wednesday, accusing her of running unlicensed post-operative cosmetic surgery recovery homes in both the city of Miami and the county’s Tamiami area.

Monica Beatriz Garcia, 45, who lives in the West Kendall area, now faces a host of felony and misdemeanor charges. Police said she was a known owner and operator of businesses called “Oasis Recovery House” and “Oasis Eden.”

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According to an arrest report, Miami-Dade police medical crimes detectives were tipped off to an unlicensed recovery home and were surveilling Garcia’s Southwest 42nd Terrace residence Wednesday.

The report states they followed a white Honda Civic from the home to Smart Plastic Surgery and Med Spa, located at 10700 SW 88th St. in Kendall, and saw a woman cover the back seat with a plastic covering in preparation to receive a patient.

Police said a woman, in the “early stages” of recovery, was rolled out in a wheelchair soon after and loaded into the back seat of the compact car and laid on her stomach.

They followed the Civic to a home at 2401 SW 143rd Court, they said, then remained in the area and saw Garcia later arrive at the home in an SUV and detained her.

Police said they found a dozen women at the Southwest 143rd Court home in various stages of post-op recovery, who said they were charged $250 per night for care.

A separate arrest report states that authorities found Garcia had been illegally dumping, in regular trash bins, “large quantities” of adult diapers, bandages, gloves, pads and gowns that were “saturated with human fecal matter, blood and urine, thereby creating a credible and actual biological hazard to the well-being and health of the public.”

According to another arrest report, Garcia was also running an unlicensed recovery home at 520 SW 72nd Court, on the western edge of Miami’s Flagami neighborhood.

Police said they surveilled that home on May 19 and saw a patient arrive in a van — rather than a compact sedan — full of women in various stages of recovery.

According to the report, 10 women in total were in the home. They too were charged $250 per night.

Unlicensed surgical recovery facilities continue to be a serious problem in South Florida.

Local 10 News has interviewed women who have described unsanitary conditions at homes they stayed in after recovering from cosmetic surgeries.

Garcia faced two charges of operating an assisted living facility without a license, both felonies, plus felony littering and hazardous waste violations.

She also faced two misdemeanor charges of failing to track biomedical waste and creating a nuisance injurious to health.

Garcia had been held on a $21,000 bond but was no longer listed in Miami-Dade jail records as of Thursday afternoon.


About the Author:

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.