Luis Rojas Cabrera

Introduction

Luis Rojas Cabrera is a 55-year-old unlicensed practitioner who operated the Bereshit Lifestyle Center, a holistic wellness spa on Riverdale Avenue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where 27-year-old Elizabeth Baron went into cardiac arrest and died on July 19, 2026, shortly after he administered an intravenous infusion of NAD+ — nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme marketed in wellness circles for energy, cognitive clarity and anti-aging. He was arrested the next day and charged with reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of a profession, and released without bail at his July 20 arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court. After Baron’s autopsy results came back, prosecutors upgraded the charges against him to homicide, the New York Post reported on September 21, 2026, citing the NYPD.

Background Information

Rojas Cabrera is not licensed to practice medicine in the United States, according to prosecutors and the NYPD, though he is licensed in the Dominican Republic. On his website he described himself as “an active surgeon and Naturopath in the Dominican Republic and an alternative and holistic medicine practioner [sic] in the United States,” with a bio boasting training in head and neck, bariatric and laparoscopic surgeries “as well as in alternative, integrative and naturopathic medicines abroad in places like Israel, France, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.” His Bereshit Lifestyle Center offered “natural medicine” and therapies along with products geared toward “making healthy living easy,” according to its website.

He had two prior US arrests before the fatal infusion, prosecutors said at his arraignment: a November 6, 2025 arrest at Newark Airport while returning from the Dominican Republic with a metal baton in his bag, and a second arrest days later at the same airport after returning from the Dominican Republic with almost 200 files of prescription medications, over 30 tablets, and 10 syringes of lidocaine. The medical-spa industry publication American Med Spa Association News reported that prosecutors alleged IV administration of NAD+ requires a prescription from a licensed medical professional and appropriate medical oversight, which they argued Rojas Cabrera lacked legal authority to provide.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from prosecutors and the NYPD, as reported by the New York Post and American Med Spa Association News, which reported substantiating them. The homicide charge is an upgraded criminal charge that has not been adjudicated; Rojas Cabrera was released without bail after the initial arrest and is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in court. His son has denied the allegations and defended him.

Baron, a 27-year-old Bronx woman who lived less than two miles from the clinic in the Skyview On The Hudson condo complex, received an IV infusion of NAD+ from Rojas Cabrera at the Bereshit Lifestyle Center around noon on Sunday, July 19, 2026, and shortly afterward lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. Staff at the center notified authorities and she was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where she died around 1:10 p.m. Prosecutors revealed at the July 20 arraignment that Rojas Cabrera had administered the NAD+ treatment through an IV before Baron went into cardiac arrest, and Assistant District Attorney Ethan Reisbaum told the courtroom that as he was not licensed to practice medicine in New York, he had no authority to administer the treatment.

The legal posture of the case changed in September when the results of Baron’s autopsy came back: the medical examiner’s findings led prosecutors to upgrade the charges to homicide, and sources told the Post that additional charges against Rojas Cabrera could still be coming. At the time of the July arrest, prosecutors had said they could not seek bail until autopsy results arrived because without them they would be unable to charge him in connection with Baron’s death; Judge Craig Ortner ordered him released without bail but required him to surrender his passport within 48 hours.

The incident landed amid a broader NAD+ craze that Rojas Cabrera’s own marketing rode: the Post noted that models Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber had publicly described themselves as devotees of the treatment, helping fuel demand for the infusions. AmSpa reported that although IV NAD+ treatments are marketed by some clinics for wellness, anti-aging and recovery purposes, the treatment remains subject to state scope-of-practice laws, prescription requirements and professional licensing rules.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew immediate local press attention in July, with the Post reporting that Yelp reviewers had previously referred to Rojas Cabrera as a “scammer,” “con artist,” and “manipulator” who “will take your money and lie to your face.” Baron’s family declined to comment, asking for privacy as they grieved, while her next-door neighbor Paula Schaap described her as “beautiful” and health-conscious, saying she went to the gym regularly.

Rojas Cabrera’s son, Luis Rojas Cabrera Jr., publicly defended his father while awaiting the arraignment, saying through tears that he was blindsided by the allegations and calling his father “a good man, a good father and a good doctor.” The concrete consequence was legal: the arrest, the initial reckless-endangerment and unauthorized-practice charges, the passport surrender order, and finally the September homicide charge upgrade, which the Post reported came “in the killing of Elizabeth Baron” per the NYPD.

Current Status

Rojas Cabrera faces an upgraded homicide charge in Baron’s death, per the NYPD, with sources telling the Post that additional charges could be coming. At the most recent public court proceeding described in the fetched sources, the July 20 arraignment, he had been released without bail — after the autopsy results that enabled the homicide upgrade, any bail determination would be a matter for the courts, and the fetched reporting does not state that he has been convicted of anything. The case was described as developing, with the city medical examiner’s autopsy findings serving as the trigger for the upgrade.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The homicide charge ends any realistic prospect of Rojas Cabrera operating the Bereshit Lifestyle Center as a wellness practice: he now stands charged in the death of a client who died hours after receiving an infusion he administered, which is the conduct the case is built on. His prior record — the two 2025 airport arrests involving medical supplies, the unlicensed status in the US, and now a homicide charge — is the public record attached to his name and his clinic. For the wider wellness industry, the case became a cautionary example cited in industry coverage of the regulatory exposure around IV NAD+ marketing and scope-of-practice rules.

Sources

• New York Post, “Phony doc in upscale NYC enclave charged with homicide after woman dies over trendy anti-aging injection: cops,” September 21, 2026.
• New York Post, “Unlicensed doctor arrested after NYC woman, 27, dies following anti-aging serum injection at holistic wellness center,” July 20, 2026.
• American Med Spa Association, “27-Year-Old Dies Following NAD+ Infusion at New York Wellness Center,” 2026.