Woman accused of tattooing underage girl's neck without permission from parents, faces charges

A tattoo artist who rents space at a parlor in Springdale was charged by police with tattooing a butterfly on an underage girl’s neck without getting permission from a parent.

Shaolin Ameris Barr, 21, of the 2000 block of Constitution Avenue in Arnold was charged with misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors and illegal tattooing, according to a criminal complaint.

A preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge David Sosovicka has not yet been scheduled, according to court records.

The girl’s mother gave police a written statement July 14 stating that Barr did not ask her permission when she applied the tattoo on her daughter the previous day at Mainframe Tattoo on Pittsburgh Street, according to a criminal complaint.

Police did not say how old the girl is.

The shop’s owner told police that he allows Barr to work on her own clients out of his shop in exchange for a percentage of the money she collects, the complaint said.

He told police that the age of all the clients he tattoos is verified by requiring a driver’s license, and, if they are under 18, a parent or guardian must sign a consent form, according to the complaint.

Police said Barr confirmed to them that she applied the tattoo on the girl but said she did not know the girl was underage, the complaint said.

Barr told police that she did not ask for a driver’s license to verify the girl’s age but tattooed her because she knew one of the two other people who accompanied her to the shop, according to the complaint.