Baileyville police plan to warn students about the dangers of home tattooing after a group of teens used a home-made tattoo machine.

School resource officer Shawn Newell says he hopes to speak to health classes about the diseases that can be transmitted through dirty tattoo needles.

Baileyville Police chief Phil Harriman says a 17-year-old high school student built a primitive tattoo machine using batteries and an electric razor. They say the teenager lent the machine to friends who used it to give themselves tattoos.

Police say one of those was a 13-year-old, whose ankle was tattooed with the number "420," a marijuana reference.

Harriman says it's illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to get a tattoo in Maine. No charges have been filed against the 17-year-old.

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