‘Beauty Bandit’ suspect arrested in Miami restaurant

By Jim Leonardo

08/11/2010 at 11:00AM

A game of cat-and-mouse that played out in the south Florida media became a victory for local police when they apprehended the "Beauty Bandit." Maria Elizabeth Chrysson, 29, of Miami Beach, was arrested Aug. 2 on charges that she received Botox® injections and skin products valued at $1,000 from a Miami medical spa in December and paid for them with checks that were returned for insufficient funds.

Chrysson also is suspected of receiving Botox injections valued at $3,300 - and then slipping away from the Fort Lauderdale physician who provided her with the services.

Before her arrest, Chrysson had begun calling herself "the Beauty Bandit" on her Facebook page, though she later tried to distance herself from the moniker as authorities closed in on her.

A post on her Facebook page read: "The only reason I even call myself the beauty bandit is to try and make lite [sic] out of such a messed up situation, I will say it one more time, I didn't go into that clinic!"

A Fort Lauderdale physician told the local NBC-TV affiliate that a woman fitting Chrysson's description appeared in his office July 23, gave another woman's name as her identification and requested several facial injections, refusing to have her picture taken before the procedure because of what she said were obligations tied to a modeling contract.

After receiving the treatments and products, Chrysson reportedly told staff at the practice that she didn't have cash with her and asked workers to keep her purse as collateral while she found the nearest ATM. After she failed to return, staff discovered that the purse was filled with business cards, according to news reports.

What she didn't know was that the physician had security cameras stationed throughout his office. Pictures and video taken from her visit were circulated throughout south Florida media - and about a week later, she was arrested in a Miami restaurant.

Chrysson was charged with three counts of grand theft and one count of scheming to defraud in the insufficient funds case. She is also a suspect in a third similar case, according to news reports.

"We were in the process of making restitution (to the Miami Institute) when the arrest occurred," Chrysson's lawyer told The Miami Herald in an article posted Aug. 3 on miamiherald.com.

Chrysson was placed under house arrest Aug. 4 during a bond hearing at which she did not appear and ordered to wear a monitoring bracelet on her ankle, the newspaper reported.

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