Woman accused of tattooing minors

Brownsville police arrested a woman for placing tattoos on the hands of her 6-year-old son, her 10-year-old son and her 12-year-old brother, officials said.

Maria Erika Vasquez, 28, was arrested Friday afternoon and later charged with three counts of prohibited tattooing of certain persons, burglary of habitation, resisting arrest and resisting transportation, said police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique.

On Monday morning, Vasquez went before a municipal judge who set her bond at $30,000 and was later transported to Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center.

Police began investigating Vasquez on Aug. 14, after her ex-husband informed investigators that his 6-year-old son had three dots tattooed on the web of his right hand, Manrrique said.

"He went to pick up his son whom he hadn’t seen since July and was going to show him some puppies," he said. "When the son stretched out his hand, the father saw the three dots tattooed between the thumb and index finger."

During the investigation, the 6-year-old said his mom had made the tattoo even though he didn’t want it, Manrrique said.

Investigators discovered that Vasquez had also tattooed her 10-year-old son and her 12-year-old brother, and she had an outstanding warrant for burglarizing her sister’s house, police said.

"She had broken into her sister’s house using her 12-year-old daughter to climb through the window and open the door," Manrrique said.

Officers went to arrest the woman at her house on the 100 block of Fresno Street, however, she refused to go peacefully struggling with officers both while placing her under arrest and while inside the police car as well, the spokesman said.

"Inside the unit, she managed to get one hand loose from the handcuffs and was using the handcuffs to try and break one of the unit’s windows," Manrrique said.