Detroit Tattoo Artist Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

At least a dozen women have accused 25-year-old Detroit tattoo artist Alex Boyko of sexual misconduct ranging from sending unsolicited photos of his genitals to rape. While allegations first appeared on Tumblr, Reddit and Facebook last month, the collection of horror stories made its way to the national stage Thursday in a Jezebel piece titled “The Tattoo Industry Is Having Its Own Wrenching, Revelatory #MeToo Moment.”

The Reddit post outlining Boyko’s behavior remains available, while Facebook and some Reddit posts have been deleted, and Boyko has threatened defamation actions and filed cease-and-desist orders against at least one person who made the allegations, a fellow male tattoo artist form Ypsilanti named Jon Larson.

Larson is continuing to link to a Google document through his personal Tumblr. That document, created by three women who accuse Boyko of harassment and assault, contains links to another page, also created by three of Boyko's victims with 100 screenshots from others who say Boyko harassed or assaulted them.

“This blog houses almost 100 screenshots from the master post and other sources. Upon deletion, the master post was shared over 1,500 times and contained almost 700 comments, many of them from women stepping up to speaking out against him and share their experiences,” the Google Document reads.

The Google document also include a list of resources for victims, including counselors, but also tattoo artists willing to cover up tattoos – or address partly-completed ones – for free.

No criminal charges have been filed against Boyko.

The Tumblr page outing Boyko remains, and includes photos of tattoos Boyko did. His own collection of samples online begins with a series of topless women holding their breasts so work he did on their chests is visible. One allegation against Boyko is that he required clients to remove more clothing than necessary to do tattoos, and that he repeatedly hounded female clients for topless or other nude photos.

Some former clients allege that he sent them photos of his genitals when they were 13 and 17 years old. Many allege unwanted touching and groping, and one woman says Boyko forced her to perform oral sex on him before trying to have vaginal intercourse, stopping that when she asked him to.

Patch file photo.