Mother accused of tattooing children

A mother accused of tattooing her own children invited journalists inside her home today to set the record straight.

"We were making it look like it was a cross," said Jo-Jo Marsh, "so the kids could have something they could say it was."

Jo-Jo Marsh shows the tattoo on her son's hand. The mark is a cross-like symbol left by a home-made tattoo gun with a guitar string as a needle.

"We didn't even break the skin barely," said Marsh, "they are very tiny, just through a few layers, on the top, they will fade away, that's how minuscule this is."

Marsh and her husband, Jacob Bartels, face child cruelty charges after detectives found the same mark on six of the couple's seven children. One of the children is just 10 years-old.

"There was a seven year-old child that they determined was too young for the tattoo at this time," said Chattooga County Sheriff John Everett.

With two news videos.