Enrique Gonzalez Arrested After Forcing 7-Year-Old Son To Get Gang Tattoo

Enrique Gonzalez, 26, of Fresno, California has pleaded not guilty to charges that he held down his seven-year-old son as he forced him to get tattooed with a gang symbol. Authorities set off to find Gonzalez after the boy, who had been staying with Gonzalez over Easter, told his mother that his father had forced him to get the tattoo despite his protests.

Gonzalez’s friend, 21-year-old Travis Dewayne Gorman, allegedly tattooed the young boy with a dog paw on his right hip while his father held him down. The paw is a symbol for the Bulldogs street gang. The young boy explained he wanted to stick to the Pound Puppiez gang, whose members wear stickers and sometimes hit the Kool-Aid a little too hard. Gorman is not a licensed tattoo artists, nor is it legal to tattoo anyone under the age of 18 in California. Despite how “hard” his dad thinks a tattooed first grader might be.

When police arrested Gonzalez, who had been classified as a fugitive since April, at a Madera County hotel, they discovered a photograph and the man, his son and another young boy wherein the children had gang graffiti on their bodies. 

In addition to having pleaded not guilty to felony charges of “aggravated mayhem and street terrorism,” Gonzalez has also pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of theft and to misdemeanor charges of driving without a license. 

Heads up: While we’re sure that once you’ve become enmeshed in a gang, it’s not easy for you (and your family) to get out, there are other ways to make your kids feel protected and like they’re a part of something, especially as young Latinos in a gang-infested area. And, bonus, some of those ways even provide cookies. 

Click Below for a Gallery of Gang Tattoos

Dad pleads not guilty to holding his kid down so he could be tattooed with gang symbol [Mercury News]