A tattoo artist operating an illegal salon in a Kinston hotel was busted last week when undercover officers raided the unlawful business during an appointment to request some Chinese body art.
Acting on a report an unlicensed tattoo artist had opened a secret salon in a hotel on U.S. 70 East, deputies with the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office made an appointment with the suspect — 29-year-old Shelton Julian Boyd of Raleigh — to receive some Chinese body art they learned Boyd offered, said Maj. Chris Hill, chief of administrations with the sheriff’s office.
Hill said Joey Huff, director of the Lenoir County Health Department, and two of Huff’s staff first approached sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday with information of Boyd’s operation.
North Carolina law requires those wishing to tattoo to acquire a permit from their local health department.
Hill said around 5:45 p.m., an undercover officer entered the hotel room and observed Boyd tattooing another person with several people in the room waiting to be tattooed.
“because of the number of patrons in the room, the undercover detective was asked to come back,” Hill said.
Detectives came back to the room, knocked on the door and were allowed in the room, Hill said.
Hill said in the meeting, Boyd admitted he had arrived in Kinston to do a few tattoos, but was not permitted by the health department to do so.
The deputies then proceeded to seize all of the tattooing equipment that Boyd possessed.
Another patron in the room, 17-year-old Jashaun King, of 105 S. Orion Street, Kinston, was cited for simple possession of marijuana.
Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wbrown@freedomenc.com.
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