Soiled medical waste leads cops to bust unlicensed post-op recovery house, Miami-Dade police say

Traci Strader, 47, faces 20 charges

Traci Strader (MDCR/Copyright 2023 Google)

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Copious amounts of soiled adult diapers, absorbent pads, bandages and bed pads improperly disposed of outside of a southwest Miami-Dade home led police to bust an unlicensed post-operative surgery recovery house, according to an arrest report.

Police arrested Traci Strader, 47, on Tuesday, charging her with an assortment of felonies and misdemeanors.

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According to an arrest report, she ran the illegal facility out of a home at 21986 SW 131st Place in the Goulds area.

Strader is listed in state business records as a manager of “Elite Journey Wellness House, LLC.” The address on file matches the address listed in the police report.

According to police, they became aware of the facility after finding “substantial quantities” of medical waste improperly disposed of in regular trash bags inside regular, unsecured county trash bins.

Police wrote the items were “saturated with human fecal matter, blood, and urine, thereby creating a credible and actual biological hazard to the well-being and health of the public.”

After executing a search warrant Tuesday, police discovered four patients and one employee inside.

Unlicensed surgical recovery facilities continue to be a serious problem in South Florida.

Local 10 News has interviewed women who have described unsanitary conditions at homes they stayed in after recovering from cosmetic surgeries.

Strader faced 16 counts of running an assisted facility without a license, one felony charge each of of littering and a hazardous waste violation, plus two misdemeanor health-related charges.

She was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on an $8,000 total bond.


About the Author
Chris Gothner headshot

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.

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