News

June 24, 2009

Police: Artist’s e-mailed photo violated woman

Police say tattoo artist sent image of woman’s pierced body part to another man.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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EDWARDSVILLE – A tattoo artist was charged by police on Tuesday for allegedly e-mailing a picture of a woman’s genital he had pierced.

Shawn Besnoska, 34, of Moosic, was charged with two counts of invasion of privacy and a single count of harassment. He was arraigned by District Judge Paul J. Roberts in Kingston Tuesday night and released on $5,000 bail.

Besnoska seemed upset when contacted by a Times Leader reporter. “It’s getting thrown out,” he said. “Why are you bothering me? I don’t want any trouble; I didn’t do nothing. I feel my privacy is being invaded.”

According to the criminal complaint:

The woman told police on June 6 that the picture was sent to another person without her consent. She said she was pierced at Dragons Den, a tattoo and piercing studio, on Main Street, Edwardsville.

Police said Besnoska e-mailed the picture to Donald Aregood Jr., who showed it to his girlfriend, Jennifer Haskell.

Haskell told police, the criminal complaint says, that Besnoska and the woman were hanging out at Aregood’s home. The woman told Haskell that she was going to be pierced and Besnoska was going to do it for free, the criminal complaint says.

After the woman was pierced on June 4, according to the criminal complaint, Aregood received a picture that was e-mailed to his cell phone. He showed the picture to Haskell who, in turn, alerted the woman.

Aregood claimed he immediately deleted the picture from his cell phone.

Besnoska said he was arrested outside Turkey Hill on Main Street, Kingston, Tuesday night after waving to a police officer.

“It broke me down getting these charges. It hurts,” Besnoska said. “I feel like people are looking at me right now. It’s not fair. Everyone has skeletons in their closet. This is my skeleton.”

Besnoska said he has been a tattoo artist for nearly 10 years, and questioned why his arrest is a story.

“I’m not a celebrity, I’m an everyday (expletive),” he said. “I’m going to go to court, I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to get this over with.”

A preliminary hearing is scheduled on July 15 in Central Court.

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