UPDATE 2: Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance told Judge Kerry Russell the state is waiting on a report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that will reveal the contents of the mystery gel substance Foster was allegedly injecting into women's breasts and buttocks. He said he expects that report to be ready within the week.
UPDATE (July 10, 2012 TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - A Tyler woman accused of injecting several individuals with a liquid gel substance, who were seeking breast and buttock augmentations, will learn this morning whether her trial will happen this week.
A woman who said she spent a month in the Smith County Jail and became friends with Carmel Mitchelle Foster, 39, during that time, was in the 7th District Court on Monday to lend her support.
Ms. Foster is accused of injecting the women in February inside the Queen Divas salon she owns on Martin Luther King Boulevard. One of the women was hospitalized in Longview and placed on a ventilator because of a pneumothorax (a buildup of air and blood) in the lungs. She has since been released from the hospital.
Maria Sandoval, 33, said after the docket call in the 7th District Court on Monday morning that she was in jail with Ms. Foster for about a month, and said the two became close. She said the two of them prayed together and talked about the Bible and church. Ms. Sandoval said she came to court to support Ms. Foster.
Ms. Sandoval said she was released from jail about two weeks ago, where she had been held because of a revoked probation. She said Ms. Foster told her that the injections took place at a party where the women seeking the breast and buttock augmentations all injected each other.
"I'm here to support her -- I love her," Ms. Sandoval said on Monday as she stood surrounded by some women who had come with her from the Iglesia de Dios church in Tyler.
Ms. Foster, who appeared in court on Monday, is charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a license. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
The prosecution and Ms. Foster's defense attorney, O.W. "Buddy" Lloyd, said in court that they were ready to proceed with the case. She has been in the Smith County Jail since Feb. 28 on a $200,000 bond.
Judge Kerry Russell set Ms. Foster's case, along with several others for the recall docket at 8:30 a.m., and will decide at that time if her case will go to trial this week.
TYLER (KYTX) -- Carmel "CeCe" Foster was scheduled to go to trial Monday morning but it's been postponed. However, Foster's former cell mate in the Smith County jail spoke out this morning to tell people why she believes Foster is innocent in the case prosecutors have made against her for allegedly providing illegal breast and buttocks injections to women looking to avoid the expense of implants.
"I'm here to support her," Maria Sandoval, who has been released from jail, said.
Sandoval and Foster spent about a month together inside the Smith County jail.
"We prayed a lot about our cases," Sandoval said. "She talked to me about her case."
Sandoval has come to believe Foster is innocent and brought her friends from church for extra support.
"She said, about her story, that they were at a party and they were injecting each other," Sandoval said.
That version of the story contradicts investigators who say they have evidence showing Foster was offering the injection service for a fee inside her salon, and that the injections hurt people.
"She said that wasn't true," Sandoval said. "The girlfriend beat her up. That's what she said."
Sandoval believes the alleged victim who got sick and kick-started the investigation was really a victim of domestic abuse. Asked why she believes Foster's version of the events, Sandoval said she's taking it on faith.
"God uses her a lot," Sandoval said. "When I was there, she prayed for a lot of people,and the next day they went home. She told them 'you're going to go home,' and they did. She told me 'you're going to go home,' and I did."
Sandoval also said Foster has been upset by how many people have turned their back on her in all this. She said Foster feels like a lot of her old friends have chosen to forget about the good things she did for Tyler like making wigs for breast cancer patients.
Foster will re-appear in court Tuesday morning at 8:30.
