Tattoo Shop Owner Accused Of Drugging Then Raping Customers

HESPERIA (CBSLA) —The tattoo shop Henry Camarena Jr. owned is now empty with for rent signs in the front window. Two women have now come forward with accusations of sexual assault. Investigators say it's possible there are more victims.

The tattoo industry in the high desert is fairly small. Everyone knows of everyone. So many of the artists at Dinamik Tattoo were wary when Camarena Jr. opened up his shop, Team Art Collective Tattoo, just down the street. They say he didn't have the best reputation.

"Around here you get people going from shop to shop, price checking and stuff like that. So you get a lot of people who come in and have bad things to say," Scott Grosjean, employee at Dinamik Tattoo said.

They heard Camarena, Jr. had made some females customers feel uncomfortable.

"Doing raffles late at night and weird creepy stuff," Grosjean said.

But it still came as a shock when Camarena, Jr. was arrested in June when police say he raped a 19-year-old woman who had come in to get a tattoo. Now another victim has come forward and Camarena, Jr. is facing additional charges of rape of an unconscious person and rape by use of drugs. According to court documents, the victim was prevented from resisting by an intoxicating, anesthetic and controlled substance.

Tattoo artists say even though some people are nervous about getting inked, they never give drugs or numbing agents to their customers. And they say these allegations about one artist do affect them all.

"Just having things like that happen, it puts a damper on that a little bit because people are hesitant to come into the shops," Grosjean said.

A former customer who didn't want to go on camera says she got two tattoos from Camarena, Jr. and he was a perfect gentleman with her. He's being held on $750,000 bail. His next hearing is scheduled for October 31.