DOVER, Del. - A Magnolia man has been ordered to stop giving people tattoos out of his home after it was discovered he was doing so without a permit.

According to the Delaware Division of Public Health, 38-year-old William Smiley had been conducting tattooing activities out of his home on Grays Lane in Magnolia without a required body art establishment permit. DPH staff say they were also unable to confirm Smiley was using proper sanitary precautions.

DPH encourages anyone who received services at the Grays Lane location to get tested for diseases that may have been transmitted through unsterile equipment, such as hepatitis and HIV. The unregulated tattoo parlor kept no client records, so DPH says it cannot contact people who received a tattoo from Smiley. To learn more about free testing options in your area, visit http://www.freehivtest.net/ and enter your ZIP code.

“No one should ever seek body art services from an unlicensed business,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “Establishments regulated by DPH are inspected and must meet requirements for sanitation, proper disposal of needles, use of gloves, and many other items... Before getting any kind of body art done, people should always insist on seeing the Public Health permit, which is required to be posted in an obvious location.”