A Denton County mother says parents should know that tattoos are becoming more common among high school teenagers -- even though Texas law prohibits it.
Patty Knowles contacted NBC 5 after seeing Monday's story about a Parker County 15-year-old whose mother was arrested after she allegedly allowed her boyfriend to tattoo her teen daughter.
“It’s happening," she said. "You know, you need to pay attention. Check your children to see if they have the tattoos that they’re hiding."
Her daughter, Delany, was just 14 years old and at a friend's house in Aubrey when the other girl's mother allowed an artist to give the girls tattoos.
“They were kind of telling me to get one, and then they, like, helped me decide what I wanted," Delany said.
Delany, now 15, said she wishes she had never gotten the large cross with the words "only God can judge me" on her left leg.
“There’s no really meaning to it," she said. "I just got it just because. I don’t really like it now."
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When her mother found out about the tattoo the next day, she was shocked -- and called police.
“To me, it's scarring her for the rest of her life," Patty Knowles said.
The other girl's mother and the tattoo artist were later arrested, although prosecutors dropped the charges against the woman.
The tattoo artist, 23-year-old Vinnie Pacheco, is serving 60 days in the Denton County Jail. He was sentenced on Friday.
"It’s happening over and over again," Knowles said. "She tells me all the time that her high school is filled with minors who have tattoos."
In the Parker County case, the girl's mother and the woman's boyfriend were charged with Class B misdemeanors. Deputies said Lydie Mathers allowed Brian Lee Sporn to tattoo the letters "SS" on the 14-year-old's leg.
