Man tells cops he was forcibly tattooed by roommates

THE MEN and women held and restrained him.

They marked him up with tattoos of genitals and racial stereotypes, he said.

They were, he believed, his friends with whom he shared a basement residence in Mayfair.

Police yesterday were trying to unravel the bizarre case of a 52-year-old man who says he was forcibly tatted up by his four roommates over two days ending sometime yesterday, said Lt. John Stanford, a police spokesman. Cops were called by the victim and arrived about 10 a.m. to the house on Brighton Street near Hawthorne.

"This is a weird one," Stanford said. "This is strange."

Northeast Detectives last night executed a search warrant at the residence, owned by the mother of one of the man's roommates. She lives in the house, police said.

Earlier in the day, detectives interviewed the alleged victim and those with whom he shared his basement apartment: two men and two women, including, police say, his girlfriend.

No one had been charged in the case as of last night.

One of the roommates, the landlord's son, is apparently a professional tattoo artist, and a tattoo gun and materials were used, Stanford said.

In two years, police have visited the house 20 times, Stanford said, adding that the residence is considered a "nuisance property."