Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media
The Harris County Criminal Justice Center is located in downtown Houston.
A man is facing criminal charges in Harris County for allegedly performing multiple surgeries on a woman and charging her thousands of dollars when he did not have a medical license to do so.
Niuver Borroto Perez, 47, is charged with a felony count of practicing medicine without a license or permit, causing harm. Court records indicate he had not been arrested as of Friday, though the case was filed on Tuesday.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Borroto Perez is accused of having performed four illegal surgeries on a woman who had reportedly had a mastectomy after cancer treatment.
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The woman met Borroto Perez in April 2022, court records show. He had allegedly introduced himself as a plastic surgeon and promised her he would be able to “perform the surgery and reconstruct her breast,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors accuse Borroto Perez of performing four surgeries on her between May 2022 and February 2023, totaling $32,000 in cost.
By her fourth surgery, the woman alleged she “did not trust” Borroto Perez, and so she allegedly recorded the entire surgery, according to court records. She later told police she “felt everything” and described the procedure as painful.
Weeks later, the woman allegedly noticed her breasts were starting to become inflamed. She received an ultrasound, which revealed her body had “a big volume” of necrosis, the death of body tissue as a result of injury, illness, or lack of blood flow, court documents show.
The woman informed the Houston Police Department about the surgeries in November 2023, according to court records.
Representatives for Borroto Perez could not be reached for comment. A defense attorney for him was not listed in the online case record as of Friday. An attorney who has previously represented Borroto Perez in other matters did not immediately return a request for comment.
The woman told investigators she had met Borroto Perez at “CM La Riviera” in west Houston. A business called Riviera Plastic Surgery and Med Spa operates at that same address, according to their website. Representatives from Riviera Plastic Surgery did not immediately return a request for comment.
In December 2024, the Texas Medical Board, which oversees the medical field in Texas and investigates malpractice, issued a cease-and-desist order against Borroto Perez, “prohibiting him from acting as, or holding himself out to be, a licensed physician in the state of Texas.” The medical board accused him of “representing himself as a surgical assistant since 2017 and has performed several cosmetic procedures without adequate supervision, resulting in significant patient injury; misrepresented himself as a physician; and falsified or submitted incomplete medical records.”
Texas state law defines practicing medicine without a license, in which the patient is harmed, as a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.