Two girls under the age of 13 were reportedly given tattoos by a babysitter who was subsequently arrested – as was the kids’ mother, for how she responded.
Three Virginia adults in all – the babysitter, mother, and her boyfriend – were all charged with felony child abuse after the situation went from bad to worse.
Much worse.
According to reports, Alexander Edwards (left), 20, recently decided to give the young girls tattoos while they were under his care. It’s not clear why, or of what.
Soon enough, their mother, Melissa Delp (center), and her boyfriend, Daniel Janney (right), returned home and saw what Edwards allegedly did to them.
At that point, Janney tried to remove the tattoos himself … by burning them off.
“There was an effort to cover these tattoos up,” said a sheriffs’ department officer of the children. “It didn’t help the situation any. It added more scarring.”
While one can imagine Delp and Janney would be very distraught to come home and find that two pre-teens had been tattooed without consent … wow.
Who would actually attempt to burn tattoos off of themselves, let alone kids?!
It’s all unclear, and details are scant, but a professional tattoo removal artist in Kutztown, Pa., has kindly offered to remove the girls’ tattoos at no cost.
“It breaks my heart to know they have gone through that,” he said.
Alexander Edwards is charged with abduction, malicious wounding, and child neglect for his inexplicable decision to tattoo the youngsters in his care.
His relationship to Delp is not clear.
Melissa Delp, the mother of the two girls who were tattooed, is facing malicious wounding and felony child neglect charges for not stopping Janney.
Janney is being held for malicious wounding, child abuse and neglect.
A search warrant obtained by the media says that one of the girls told investigators Janney used a hot razor blade to burn the tattoos off of her and her sister.