
PAWNEE -- A convicted rapist who was allegedly living in a camper at Pawnee City Lake has been charged with illegally tattooing minors and failing to comply with the provisions of the Violent Crime Registration Act.
Joshua McClendon, 32, who recently lived in Stillwater, was 18 when he was found guilty of kidnapping and first-degree rape in Pawnee County in 1995 and given probation, court records show.
His probation was revoked in 1998 when he was sent to prison to serve 10 years for two second-degree burglaries in Pawnee County, state Department of Corrections records show. He was freed in 2002, records show.
Following his latest charges, McClendon was released on a personal recognizance bond with an order to return to court on July 25, court records show. When he posted bond on June 6, he listed an address in Valley City, N.D., where he reportedlly now works.
Pawnee County Sheriff's Deputy Susie Owens wrote in an affidavit that on May 27, she was informed by a law enforcement officer that McClendon had tattooed a 17-year-old boy to whom the officer is related.
It is illegal for a registered sex offender to work with or provide services to children, according to Owens' affidavit.
The following day, the officer advised Owens that he had just spoken to McClendon at a residence located a half-block from Pawnee High School, the affidavit said.
When the officer asked McClendon if he knew that the teenage boy whom he had tattooed was a juvenile, McClendon said that he did and that he had tattooed a couple of other individuals in the Pawnee area, the affidavit alleged.
McClendon said that he did not have a license to perform tattooing and "only did it as a hobby for extra income," the affidavit alleged. McClendon voluntarily gave a homemade tattoo gun to the officer, the affidavit alleged.
That same day, when the teenage boy was interviewed at the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office, he said "several of his friends in Pawnee know that they can get a tattoo from McClendon anytime for a cheap price," the affidavit alleged.
The teenage boy said that the tattoo work on him was performed the evening of May 21 at the Pawnee City Lake where McClendon was staying in a camper trailer, the affidavit alleged.
The previous month, McClendon had gone to the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office on April 22 and notified authorities that he had moved from 1400 North Perkins Road in Stillwater and would be residing at 1217 Kansas Street in Pawnee, the affidavit said.
On April 30, the deputy received information that McClendon was not living at that address, but was staying in a camper that was currently parked at the Pawnee City Lake, the affidavit alleged.
If convicted of violating the Violent Crime Registration Act by providing services to a minor, McClendon could receive as much as a five-year prison term. If convicted of unlawful tattooing on minors, McClendon could receive as much as a 90-day jail term.
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