US: Texas parents arrested for forcibly tattooing children, says report
Megan and Gunner Farr of Zavalla have been arrested.
A mother and a stepfather in Texas were arrested for forcibly tying down their two children and tattooing them. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by TV station KTRE on Tuesday (April 25), the parents-Megan Mae Farr, 27, and Gunner Farr, 23, of Zavalla, tied down their children, ages nine and five, and forcibly gave them tattoos. The affidavit said that one child was given a tattoo on their foot, and the other on their shoulder.
Megan Farr was charged with two counts of injury to a child and unlawful restraint. Gunner Farr, on the other hand, was charged with one count of unlawful restraint and one count of injury to a child. They each have a bond amount totalling $35,000.
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The parents tied the children down with a rope, covering their mouths with and covering their eyes with a rag as the tattoos were made. The affidavit added that the parents sought to conceal the tattoos by cutting, scraping and scrubbing the inked areas, KTRE reported. They also attempted to remove the ink by rubbing it with lemon juice.
The concealment of tattoos happened once Child Protective Services (CPS) got involved in the case. The children's biological father and stepmother saw the tattoos (on the children) and asked Megan Farr about it. However, Farr laughed (about the incident), and the incident was then reported to the CPS, the report said.
The children were in the custody of the CPS.
Zavalla Police's Chief Lieutenant James Denby said that there were forensic interviews with the children, adding a lot of details from these interviews were used in the investigation.
Denby said a tattoo kit was turned over to the investigators. “Someone came forward and turned in a tattoo kit that she claimed was loaned to Gunner to perform tattoos. She didn’t know it was going to be performed on a child,” the police chief said.
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