A former Albuquerque spa owner has pleaded guilty to conducting unlicensed "vampire facials" that led to two clients contracting HIV.
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced the plea from Maria de Lourdes Ramos de Ruiz in a news release on Friday (Saturday NZ time).
Ramos de Ruiz will enter a guilty plea to five felony counts of practising medicine without a licence.
The scam was discovered when a client who was diagnosed with HIV reported visiting her spa.
State licensing regulators investigated her business and found multiple health-code violations. Inspectors say there were unwrapped needles, improper blood disposal and unlabelled syringes next to food in a refrigerator.
