Illegal tattoos: ink-stained wrecks

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - When Chastity Miles' 15-year-old son got a tattoo, she was devastated.

"He just kind of asked me what I would do if he came home with a tattoo and I was just kind of speechless," she told Target 8. "I said I hope that's something we never have to worry about."

But when he took off his jacket she noticed not just a tattoo. She saw a shoddy job.

"You could definitely tell it was done out of someone's home," she said. "They would miss a section and then they would start up again. It was horrible looking."

It covers most of her son's upper arm.

"I was shocked. I didn't know who would tattoo a 15-year-old without a parent's consent. I didn't know where it was. So, obviously, my first concern was, was he safe getting this tattoo? Were the needles sterile?"

She was so worried she had her son tested for diseases.

"I just can't fathom what is going through their mind doing that to children."

A Target 8 investigation discovered dangerous, underground tattooing across West Michigan. Ads on craigslist offer tattoos for half the price of a licensed shop, even some willing to do barters for tattooing.

Dr. Shelley Drew was so concerned about underground tattooing she alerted the Kent County Health Department a few years ago.

"The licensed facilities have to follow strict rules for how to sterilize their equipment," Drew told Target 8. "They have to sterilize it three different ways: cold sterilization, ultra sound and autoclaving.  When you go to somebody's house they probably don't even have that equipment."

She's happy with a new state law that took effect a year ago that requires tattooing be done in a licensed facility.

-- Read the Michigan Department of Community Health requirements for body art facilities ( pdf) --

The Kent County Health Department investigated about a dozen tattoo artists, some working out of their homes, advertising on craigslist. A few months ago, a Wyoming mother filed a police report after someone gave her 13-year-old son a tattoo with a home kit.

-- Read the Kent County Health Department illegal tattooing investigation documents (pdf) --
        
"We are working with local police and we are trying to make sure that anyone who is operating illegally or under-the-table is brought to our awareness," said Lisa LaPlante of the Kent County Health Department. "We can't legally walk into someone's home and shut it down. The police are the authority for that."

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The history of tattoos

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Target 8 investigators talked with one man, David Annible, who was ordered by the health department to cease-and-desist his illegal tattooing. When Target 8 showed him the notice, he said, "I never got that form. I've never seen that before."

Annible did say he knows the law. Yet he's still tattooing out of his home.

And he admitted that "for the most part" his tattooing is illegal.

More from David Annible.

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Online:

Michigan Department of Community Health Body Art information

A list of licensed body art facilities in Michigan (pdf)

Lodge a complaint against a body art facility