Four plead guilty, another awaits trial in forced tattoo case

Four people have admitted to felony charges while a fifth has been ordered to stand trial in connection with the beating and forced tattooing of a man in the basement apartment of a Mayfair rowhouse last year.

Corry Campbell, 21; Sandra Ng, 19; and Carl Halin, 18, each pleaded guilty on Dec. 22 to aggravated assault, conspiracy and false imprisonment while David Thomas, 28, pleaded guilty on Jan. 16 to aggravated assault and conspiracy. The District Attorney’s Office did not negotiate plea deals with any of the defendants, but has chosen not to pursue additional charges including robbery, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, theft and related offenses, court records show. All four defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on March 2. Assistant District Attorney John P. Risler said that prosecutors will seek a “serious state (prison) sentence” for each defendant.

A fifth defendant, Jennifer Pratt, 40, is awaiting trial on the same charges. Her next court appearance is scheduled for March 30, a year to the day that the conspirators allegedly imprisoned a 52-year-old man and began tattooing him with obscene and racist markings. Defendants held the victim captive for about 42 hours before he escaped while they were sleeping.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Philadelphia police said that it all began with a quarrel over an injured cat. Several of the defendants and the victim were living in the basement apartment on the 3100 block of Brighton St. when a cat belonging to one of the defendants suffered a broken leg. The defendants blamed the victim for causing the injury. They held him down, beat him and marked his arms with about a dozen tattoos including racially inflammatory words, Nazi symbols and images of male genitalia. Some of the beatings were videotaped, according to Risler.

When the attackers fell asleep the following morning, the victim escaped and alerted police, who found him with bruised and swollen hands, black eyes and bruising of the legs, ribs and torso, in addition to the tattoo “sleeves” on both arms

During a search of the house, police allegedly found a tattoo gun, needles, ink vials and related paraphernalia, along with 155 grams of marijuana, several bottles of prescription drugs and the victim’s debit card, which he claimed had been stolen from him.

Thomas and Halin remain in prison, each in lieu of $1 million bail. Ng and Campbell remain in prison, each in lieu of $975,000 bail. Pratt is free from prison on $500,000 unsecured bail. She is subject to electronic monitoring. ••