A man got a call from his son on Monday, authorities in Texas say. The son asked his father to pick him and his siblings up. The boy was at his mother’s house with his two younger sisters.
The son told his father that “they had a surprise for him and that he might not like it,” an arrest affidavit alleges.
When the man arrived at the home of his ex-wife, he found his children, all younger than 13, with “fresh tattoos on their ankles.”
The children’s mother has been arrested, accused of allowing her boyfriend’s brother, a registered sex offender, to tattoo the siblings.
Ashley Weir, 31, faces three misdemeanor counts of tattoos prohibited for certain persons, according to the San Antonio Express-News. She was still in custody on Thursday, online records indicated.
One of the children, who had been dropped at their mother’s house after school, allegedly had a tattoo of a cross, another had an infinity symbol and a cross, and the third had a heart and arrow. The trio told investigators that they were tattooed by the brother of their mother’s boyfriend.
One of the siblings told investigators that the man, a registered sex offender, “wanted to give the children tattoos,” the affidavit states.
It continues: “The children stated Ashley told them to get the tattoos, but not to cry or whine about it when it hurts.”
The father of the children told investigators that when he picked up the siblings from Weir’s home she was “passed out drunk,” and the kids weren’t being supervised. When authorities arrived at Weir’s residence, they found that the front door was already cracked open, according to the affidavit. Weir was lying in bed and “initially did not respond to our announcements,” the documents state.
After “several” announcements, Weir let investigators in the home, authorities alleged.
“Ashley was intoxicated,” the affidavit states. “She had an odor of alcohol emitting from on or about her person. She wobbled, swayed and was unsure on her feet while walking.”
Weir told authorities that she gave her consent for the children’s tattoos, the designs of which she knew. She wouldn’t tell investigators who actually committed the act, but she did say that the only adults who were around at the time were her, her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s brother, whom the children had implicated.
The incident occurred in Travis County, which is in central Texas.