A former District police officer has admitted he provided security services for a woman who was giving women illegal silicone injections in their buttocks. Court records show that 48-year-old Martin Freeman pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Baltimore to conspiracy to introduce a misbranded device into interstate commerce.
His partner in the conspiracy, Kimberly Smedley, pleaded guilty last month to administering the silicone injections to women who wanted to enlarge their buttocks from 2003 to 2011. She used commercial-grade liquid silicone — not an approved medical-grade product — for the injections, which women received in hotel rooms in the District, Baltimore and other cities.
Freeman provided security at the hotel rooms from 2009 to 2011, according to his plea agreement. He was fired from the D.C. police in 2005.
Freeman was paid a total of about $5,000 for his services, the plea agreement says.
He could face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on July 19.
Smedley was arrested in October at a hotel in downtown D.C. Freeman was charged by criminal information — a document that indicates he was working to reach a deal with prosecutors — last month.
An attorney for Freeman couldn’t be reached Monday.
Freeman was fired from the D.C. police shortly after he and other officers alerted city officials that the department had set up what the officers called an improper deal to provide security in the Chinatown area. That setup happened after the police department had rejected requests from the officers to provide off-duty security there.
Freeman believed he was being blacklisted from other security jobs after leaving the police force, he told Washington City Paper in 2010.
Court documents say Smedley told women she was using medical-grade silicone for the injections, instead of a product actually meant to be used for metal or plastic lubrication, as an additive for paint or in furniture and auto polishes. Smedley has made more than $200,000 from providing the implants.
Washington-area authorities began investigating the scheme after an exotic dancer in Baltimore was hospitalized for shortness of breath after receiving the implants and doctors found silicone in her lungs. The woman reported that she received nine injections in each buttock and also got injections in her hips, court documents say.
Smedley is scheduled to be sentenced July 12.
