Douglas S. Chavez, a 31-year-old tattoo artist, pleaded guilty to an amended count of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor. The plea was entered during a virtual hearing in 1st District Court held on a Monday afternoon.
Chavez accepted the plea deal two weeks before his case was set to go to trial. The incident occurred a year ago while Chavez was performing tattoo work on a female customer.
According to court records, the victim contacted Cache County sheriff’s deputies to report that Chavez touched her inappropriately during the session. The woman stated that when she questioned his actions, Chavez claimed he was checking how far down the tattoo could go. She also provided text messages in which Chavez apologized for going too far.
Chavez was originally charged with second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. He was arrested in February 2021 after deputies made contact with him at The Werx Tattoo Studio, where he requested an attorney and declined to answer questions.
Chavez was scheduled for sentencing on April 25 and could face up to one year in jail. He was out on pretrial supervision at the time of the report.
The case was originally scheduled for a two-day jury trial on March 30-31.
