A decorated young NYPD cop, Rebecca De Paula, died following surgery to remove breast implants in the Dominican Republic, the Daily News has learned.
Officer De Paula, 31, died after having surgery to remove the implants at a clinic in Santo Domingo, her family told the Dominican news outlet Noticias Sin. Following the surgery De Paula contracted a bacterial infection, complicating her recovery and ultimately leading to her death, Noticias Sin reported.
The Daily News has reached out to authorities in the Dominican Republic for additional information.
“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our sister P.O. Rebecca De Paula, who passed away while off duty after only 18 months on the job,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said in a statement to the Daily News. “We ask all New Yorkers to keep her family, friends and coworkers in your prayers during this difficult time.”
Her death has left her NYPD family grieving.
”Horrible news. You was such a beautiful soul,” recently retired NYPD instructor David Marmol, who trained her, posted on Facebook. You had so many good questions. You had such a bright future.”
In the interview with Noticias Sin, De Paula’s mother described rushing to the clinic after hearing she was in serious condition, only to learn she died before she got there. “I remember running, going up and finding the bed empty,” De Paula’s mother said, in Spanish.
In addition to being a member of the NYPD, De Paula was a pastor who dedicated part of her life to preaching and serving her community, the outlet reported. She had three children. De Paula’s remains are at the Dominican Republic’s National Institute of Forensic Sciences as her death is probed but will be transferred to the U.S. for burial, according to Noticias Sin.
De Paula joined the NYPD in January 2025 and served in the 46th Precinct in the Bronx. Just four months ago she was was named the precinct’s “officer of the month.”
“One of my best recruits. Great person and devoted Christian,” Marmol commented on Facebook at the time.
Last October, Det. Alicia Stone, 40, a 13-year NYPD veteran assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau, died a week after undergoing plastic surgery in Cali, Columbia.
“The doctor who called me from Colombia just called me and told me my wife had just passed away,” Stone’s husband, Michael Stone, told The News at the time. “She didn’t even have any information to tell me when I was asking her…. Something just doesn’t add up.”
Stone’s husband described her as “beautiful” and a police officer with the “highest of integrity.”
In recent years an increasing number of people are traveling outside of the U.S. for various procedures that cost less overseas.
But medical procedures done abroad can come with increased risk of complications, the CDC warns. One 2022 study found that more than half of the patients who traveled abroad for discount cosmetic surgery ended up needing further treatment at home, such as wound care, removal of surgical objects and surgery revisions.