EVERETT — The tattoo artist made a house call.
He didn’t charge much.
His client seemed satisfied with his work.
Her mom was not.
And that was the rub.
The girl was 15.
An Everett man, 18, was arrested Wednesday for investigation of giving a minor a tattoo and was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
It’s a misdemeanor under state law to give a tattoo to someone under the age of 18.
The law requires a tattoo artist establish that he or she made “a reasonable, bona fide attempt” to ascertain the true age by requiring the person produce a driver’s license or other picture identification.
The man allegedly knew the girl was underage, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
The tattoo was drawn July 12, according to a police report.
The Edmonds girl reportedly paid the man $30 to come to her house and ink the 7-by-4-inch butterfly on her hip.
He allegedly did so on the condition the girl not tell her mother he was the one who created the tattoo. He provided her with the name of an alias, Ireton said.
When her mom got a glimpse of the butterfly, she first believed it had been drawn with a Sharpie pen.
She tried to erase it with makeup remover and a cotton ball.
It didn’t go away.
The mom questioned her daughter, who eventually provided a name and phone number.
The mom called 911.
The man, who recently turned 18, turned himself in. Police reports didn’t indicate if he had a licence to give tattoos. His name did not appear in a state Department of Licensing data base for tattoo artist.
The tattoo is not an isolated incident of underage inking.
Police in Centralia are investigating how a 13-year-old boy got a 6-inch tattoo of a dragon on his chest, the Associated Press reported.
The story made national headlines earlier this week.
The tattoo was inked while the boy was on a trip with a family friend.
The boy told his mom the tattoo marked his surviving leukemia. He isn’t saying who did it.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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