CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — Michelle Hayes is a strict mother. That's why she was flabbergasted last week when she discovered her teenage daughter was hiding a secret.
"I asked her to open her mouth. She had tongue piercing. I was completely stunned because she is only 15," Hayes said.
She said her daughter had the piercing done at a tattoo shop without her permission.
"I don't know if these needles were new," Hayes said. "Right now I have to get her tested for Hepatitis A, B, HIV."
In North Carolina it's illegal to pierce a minor, other than their ears, without their parent or guardian's approval.
Hayes' daughter said she was pierced at the House of Pain tattoo shop in west Charlotte. She went there with her 17-year-old friend and her friend's adult aunt.
That aunt said she did approve of her niece getting pierced, but she was never asked if she was also the guardian for Hayes' daughter.
Hayes' daughter also said no one asked her for ID or asked if she had a guardian with her.
Shop owner Aaron Burge said he never gives piercings to anyone under the age of 18 without parental consent. He accused the aunt of lying and said she must have vouched for both girls.
He also said the angry mother is just looking for a scapegoat by blaming him.
"They need to be put out of business," Hayes said.
Hayes said that even if her daughter was with an adult, she should never have been pierced without proof the adult present was really her parent.
Hayes has filed a police report.
Her daughter said she wishes she could take it all back, but because of a risk for infection she can't even remove her new tongue stud for four to six weeks.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the Mecklenburg County Health Department said they are not sure how the law is actually enforced, but police are now investigating how the teenager got pierced.
WSOC
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