GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta community is in shock after a popular tattoo shop owner and artist was accused of kidnapping an underage girl, assaulting her and tattooing her stomach.
The community around a Gwinnett County tattoo shop was shocked to see the owner wasn’t at work.
Police told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson that Carlos Diaz, who owns Diaz-Art Tattoo Parlor, was in jail.
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Diaz faces charges of kidnapping an underage girl 15 miles from his shop, then driving her back, sexually assaulting her and tattooing her stomach.
Neighbors in the area say the information is a shock.
“It does take us by surprise, hearing this about him,” Lupe Correa, at Flow Land Flowers, said. “He was really nice, he’s been really nice to my boss, Nelly, even the owner spoke highly about him.”
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The 51-year-old was arrested early Saturday morning at his tattoo shop on Pleasant Hill Road and Cruise Road.
Investigators said Diaz forced the girl into his van after finding her on Ozora Road in Grayson, then driving her back to the shop in the middle of the night.
The girl was able to secretly text her boyfriend that she was in danger and he called 911 around midnight.
“It’s sad because for one, you got to watch out for your kids at all times,” Antonio Greenleaf, a parent, told Channel 2 Action News.
Diaz was charged with human trafficking, kidnapping, sex crimes, false imprisonment and tattooing a minor. Police haven’t said if the girl knew Diaz.
Correa and other neighbors said the charges don’t match the man they know.
“We really want to think that’s not true,” Correa said. “But again, it needs to get investigated.”
Diaz is being held at the Gwinnett County Jail without bond.
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