DOCUMENT: Stupid, Crime

Mom Charged After Son, 10, Gets Tattooed

Cops: Boy inked by unlicensed 16-year-old

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Boy Gets Tattooed

OCTOBER 2--An Ohio woman who allowed her 10-year-old son to get a tattoo from an unlicensed teenager has been charged with child endangerment, according to court records.

Nikki Dickinson, 34, was named yesterday in a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed in Municipal Court in Bellefontaine, a city about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.

Local police learned of the child’s tattooing after video of the inking was uploaded to Facebook. The criminal complaint, sworn by a Bellefontaine Police Department officer, alleged that the tattooing took place inside a residence amid “unsanitary conditions.”

While Dickinson recorded with her phone, the 16-year-old tattoo artist inked the child’s right arm. The complaint does not indicate what was tattooed on the child.

During police questioning, Dickinson (seen above) reportedly said that she got “tired” of her son Skylar asking, so “she allowed Skylar to get the tattoo” on September 24 (a week after the boy turned 10). 

Kyle Richardson, the underage tattoo artist, has been charged in Juvenile Court with inking his minor client in violation of state “safety and sanitation standards.” An investigator noted that “it is believed” the unlicensed Richardson gave another client a tattoo “which turned into a MRSA infection.”

While minors can be tattooed in Ohio with parental consent, the procedure has to be done in safe and sanitary conditions. Police have notified county child services workers of the incident.

In the below image from the tattoo video, the child is flanked by Richardson (left) and Justice Oyer, 22, who is referred to as a "witness" in the criminal complaint . (1 page)