Skin care expert to the stars charged with plotting to kill rival

A skin care specialist with a Hollywood celebrity clientele has been arrested and charged in a plot to hire a hit man to kill off a competitor who moved into her territory, authorities said.

Dawn DaLuise, who owns Dawn DaLuise’s Skin Refinery in West Hollywood, was arrested Wednesday and charged Friday with one count of solicitation of murder after detectives discovered an alleged plot to hire a man to kill her business rival, Gabriel Suarez, officials said.

Records show Suarez operates Smooth Cheeks in the same block as DaLuise’s business in the 8500 block of Santa Monica Boulevard.

DaLuise has worked for a number of well-known celebrities, including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alicia Silverstone and Christina Ricci, and even had a public spat with performer Nicki Minaj. DaLuise has also appeared on the pages of InStyle and Vanity Fair.

“There was sufficient concern that something could happen that there was a decision to arrest,” said L.A. County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker, adding that the investigation remained ongoing.

DaLuise is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. Detectives are not identifying who DaLuise may have tried to hire, but say at this point no other suspects are in custody.

Investigators from the Sheriff’s Department’s Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau began probing the alleged murder-for-hire plot after being tipped off.

DaLuise’s business promotes itself as specializing in electrical muscle stimulation. By her account, she moved to Southern California in 1980s to work as a model before switching to the skin care business.

richard.winton@latimes.com
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