I-Team: Enforcement of Texas tattoo age law sketchy, underage teens say

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I-Team: Enforcement of Texas tattoo age law sketchy, underage teens say
July 23,2010
by Brian New
KENS 5

SAN ANTONIO -- In Texas, without a parent present, it is illegal to get a tattoo if you're under the age of 18.
However, some teenagers told the KENS 5 I-Team it’s easy to get around the law.
A 15-year-old explained how easy it was for him.
“I told him I was 18. He (the tattoo artist) said, 'Do you have an ID?' I told him I left it at home. He said sit down.”
One 7th grader said he signed a release and wrote “18” as his age, but said he never showed the tattoo artist an ID.
Jesse Lera, a tattoo artist at Tiger Den’s Tattoo Studio, admitted he tattooed two red stars on the teenager’s chest, but said the teenager provided him with what looked like a legitimate California driver’s license stating he was 18.
"In the first place I didn't know he was a 15-year-old," Lera said. “He came with a California ID - was pretty persistent - and show he was 18. It verified it."
However, Lera admitted he made one mistake.
Texas law requires artists to write down the type of identification a client shows to verify their age. No photocopies, no identification numbers are required to be documented – just the type of ID.
Lera failed to record it.
"I'm going to take responsibility for what I did and it won't happen again. I know that," he said.
During an inspection in June, the Texas Department of State Health Services found Tiger Den's Tattoo Studio to have failed to write down the type of ID in ten out of ten records reviewed.
The state inspector gave the studio a warning.
"Tattooing a kid - a 15 year old kid who doesn't know what he is doing - is the worst thing ever,” said the teenager’s father, Mike John. “I feel in all honestly that these people's license should be pulled, revoked for doing illegal activities for tattooing a minor without identification."
John's son was cited with a Class B misdemeanor for falsely stating his age on a legal document. A judge dropped the citation.
Lera was not charged with any crime.
Formal complaints have been filed with the Texas Department of State Health Services against 25 different San Antonio-area tattoo studios in the past five years for tattooing minors.
However, in part because Texas law requires studios to keep such little documentation, more than 90-percent of the time the allegations were "unsubstantiated" and the case was closed.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Tolbert Wilkinson said he has seen thousands of minors with tattoos.
He specializes in removing them.
Years ago he discovered by using white light in a polka-dot like pattern, he can break a tattoo into tiny particles that the body will absorb.
He said this method leaves fewer scares and can be done at a fraction of the expense of most laser removal procedures.
Over the years, he has removed thousands of tattoos, and for those under 18-years-old he does it for free.
"People always ask why do you do this,” he said. “Well, I do a lot of facelift patient and they never kiss my hand. These people are so grateful. "
Mike John brought his 15-year-old son to see Dr. Wilkinson, and the doctor told him he could help.
Within a few months, Dr. Wilkinson said the teenager's two regretful tattoos will be gone with minimal scaring.
While the boy's father said it may not be justice he wants, he said it will, at least, erase a mistake.