Nov 29, 2007 3:33 pm US/Eastern
Cosmetic Procedure Eyed In Death Of Former Officer
NEWARK (AP) ―
Authorities are investigating whether a former police officer and assistant to the police director died as the result of a procedure by an unlicensed cosmetic surgeon.
Funeral services were held Thursday for Olga Arroyo, 41, who had been an early volunteer on Mayor Cory A. Booker's campaign and most recently worked as an assistant to Newark Police Director Garry F. McCarthy.
McCarthy and Booker did not comment on the investigation, which is being conducted by Rahway police and the Union County Prosecutor's Office. Neither office would provide details about the investigation Thursday.
According to published reports, Arroyo was found unconscious in a private residence in Rahway on Nov. 21 and was pronounced dead a short time later. Authorities told The New York Times and The Star-Ledger of Newark that they are investigating whether Arroyo had been visiting the house for a surgical procedure.
The county's medical examiner is awaiting toxicology reports before making a final determination on the cause of death.
Outside Our Lady of Good Counsel church after the funeral service, McCarthy referred to the recent death of Donda West, the mother of pop star Kanye West, who died earlier this month a day after undergoing plastic surgery.
"It's simple: Doctors are licensed, they're insured and there's a reason for that. They go to school for years and years to perform surgeries and other medical procedures," he said. "You don't go to people who are not licensed, who are not doctors, to have surgical-type procedures."
McCarthy added that "virtually nobody" seemed to know ahead of time what Arroyo had been doing at the Rahway house.
In another recent case involving unlicensed cosmetic surgery, the body of a New York financial analyst was found in the former Newark house of a bogus surgeon, Dean Faiello, in 2004. Faiello was sentenced last December to 20 years in prison in the death of 35-year-old Maria Cruz.
Booker called Arroyo's death "a loss that strikes deep to the heart of our city and the police department. We've lost a community leader, a servant, a partner, a friend and a family woman."
Arroyo leaves a husband, former Newark Police Officer Jimmy Arroyo, two sons aged 14 and 11 and a stepdaughter. She suffered neck and back injuries in an automobile accident while on duty in the late 1990s that forced her to retire from active police duty, Booker said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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