KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | 7–Year Old Tattooed by his Father

7–Year Old Tattooed by his Father

By: Norma Yuriar and Caryn Kochergen

Fresno, Calif.  (KMPH News) - It's a case that's gone to the top of the Fresno Police Department Child Abuse Unit.  Investigators are looking for a man they describe as a Bulldog gang member and who they say forcibly tattooed a gang symbol on his 7-year old son's stomach.

Fresno Police Department spokesman Jeff Cardinale says the second grader was spending Spring Break with his father, 26-year-old Enrique Gonzalez, when he took the boy to a friend's house to get his son tattooed.

"The boy did not want to have the tattoo put on, but the father forcibly restrained the boy, pinning him to the ground while his friend who is a 20-year-old validated bulldog gang member put a Bulldog paw print on the young boy," said Cardinale.

Travis Gorman was taken into police custody on Tuesday at a home in Central Fresno.  Tattoo paraphernalia was also found and confiscated.

"The tattoo artist was positively identified by the young child as being the one who put the tattoo on him," said Cardinale.

The child was placed in his mother's custody after she filed a police report on Monday, April 20th against Gonzalez for having their son tattooed.  Police say Gonzalez also goes by the name Henry Gonzalez.

James Conway, a Tattoo Artist at 30/30 Tattoo in Fresno says not only is it illegal to tattoo a minor, there are also other dangers that come with what he calls 'backyard tattooing.'

"Most of them will use the same needles and there's cross contamination.  You can spread the Hepatitis virus, AIDS, HIV all that kind of stuff so it's very dangerous to go get tattoos in basically somebody's backyard," said Conway.

The Fresno Police Department is offering to remove the Bulldog dog paw at no cost using a tattoo removal machine issued by the Mayor's Gang Prevention Initiative.

"But, keep in mind, anybody who's had a tattoo removed will tell you, it's very painful to have a tattoo put on and then to have a tattoo removed is even more painful.  So, this young man has had to endure a lot of mental scaring and quite honestly some physical scaring as well because of this despicable act by his father and his father's friend," said Cardinale.