Thief swipes $50,000 tattoo blaster from Westlake nonprofit clinic

It wasn’t just any burglary.

The crime that struck Sunrise Community Outreach early Saturday was more like a blow to the heart. The thief took the $50,000 tattoo-removal machine central to the group’s mission: removing tattoos from former gang members anxious to erase their pasts.

“It’s devastating. Now we can’t do our thing,” said Rosemarie Ashamalla, executive director of the small nonprofit based in the Westlake area of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police said they got the burglary call at Friday morning, after the group’s receptionist arrived to find the front window smashed at Sunrise’s second-floor clinic.

At first, it didn’t occur to her to check whether the clinic’s cosmetic-laser machine was still in place. After all, the machine is heavy and mounted on rollers, more like furniture than medical equipment.

But when she walked to the back room, it was empty. The machine was gone. Police investigators later interviewed a passerby who saw someone roll it away around 1 a.m., said Capt. Steve Ruiz of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart station. “They were pushing a large device,” Ruiz said.

Police are continuing their investigation. But Ashamalla said she doesn’t have much hope.

The organization is probably out of business “unless something fantastic happens,” she said.

Ashamalla said the machine was not insured. She said that she tried to insure it, but that Sunrise’s nonprofit status was an impediment. A used version in today’s market might cost $25,000, she said, far beyond the group’s meager resources.
With the loss of the machine, “all that’s here is a broken window and an empty room,” she said.

Gang members, prostitutes and other underworld denizens in Los Angeles often get their tattoos and a young age, marks of ill-conceived loyalty that later hinder them when they try to get jobs and change their lives.

Low-cost tattoo removal services are in short supply in Los Angeles, Ashamalla said.

Ashamalla said she founded Sunrise about a decade ago using a grant from the organization QueensCare that recently dried up. Grants and payments from clients support provide about $100,000 yearly for Ashamalla’s and her assistant’s salaries and for contracts with nurses and a supervising physician.

Sunrise has provided tattoo-removal for about 200 people a year. Clients scheduled eight to 10 sessions with the now-stolen machine, which was used to beam a laser beneath their skin to break up the molecules of tattoo ink. The clients pay a low fee on a sliding scale. Most are referred by juvenile detention, police or parole officials or by gang-intervention groups, Ashamalla said.

Ashamalla said she doesn’t know why anyone would take the highly specialized Palomar Q-Yag 5 machine. “This is not something you take to a local pawnbroker,” she said, adding that she suspects the thief had a prearranged buyer.

In the meantime, the city has one fewer provider of low-cost tattoo removals.

“We were expecting 30 people” the day of the theft, Ashamalla said. “Our patients are angry. They say, ‘Who could have done this?' ”

-- Jill Leovy

Top Photo: A client has a tattoo removed at Sunrise Community Outreach. Bottom Photo: Palomar Q-Yag 5 tattoo-removal device. Credit: Sunrise Community Outreach

Comments

[Truthclaw]

What kind of dirt bag would do something like this? I hope there is a potential donor out there with deep pockets who can help this group out. Come on folks, pony up.

[Tip And Ring]

If the clinic's clients find out who snatched the machine there may be one less thief walking the streets.

[Kia]

Cowards who stole the machine. I recently had someone break into my car to steal the navigation sitting on the dashboard. While the value of my loss is nothing compared to the clinic, the cost of crime equally hurts everyone. I hope the thief's karma bites them where it hurts.

[Joel Johnson]

Stupid people need to wear the mark... it makes it easy to identify the circus freaks.

[Jack]

Here's the problem: The theif can either work for $10/hour at some fast food dump, or plan a heist like this and score over 1 years pay in one night. You have to make these types of things very difficult targets: Security doors, electronic alarms, chains, locks. Nothing is safe any more.

[Joel]

"Ashamalla said she doesn’t know why anyone would take the highly specialized Palomar Q-Yag 5 machine. “This is not something you take to a local pawnbroker,” she said, adding that she suspects the thief had a prearranged buyer."

Yeah, that's not exactly the type of thing a thief sells on eBay.

[syscom3]

If I saw someone pushing something like that down a street at 1:00AM, I would call the police.

[Zarathustra]

Does anyone doubt that it was one of the patients? I would almost guarantee that it was. Plus, like Inglourious Basterds, we need those markings so they can't hide away after all the bad they have done.

[adriana]

It might not be someone who is a pacient, maybe someone who has heard of this clinic and maybe the police are after a person who has tattoos and because of that he or she might get recognized and stealing this, all that can get erased plus with plastic surgery that person would have nothing to worry about. You just never know these days. Maybe it could also be someone who hates this clinic and hates that people want a second chance and because they want a second chance they get all these tattoos erased there for people who disagree with this clinic stole this machine so people can't get there tattos remmoved it could be diffrent motives you never know, but who are we to judge? You and I are not perfect so lets not judge in the bible it talks about sins im sure you have lied atleast once in your life and on to God's eyes there is no such thing as little or big lies they are all the same. I hope they do find this machine because i think it's great that people are changing there life for the best....God bless.

[Commentator]

Kia................

I too had a GPS stolen from atop the dashboard in my last car. But realize that when you have it in THAT location, you're practically advertising for a thief to steal it. It's just too tempting for him to resist.

[pmg]

You make a pretty bold statement by putting those markings all over your body. In fact, you make a deliberate statement to society that you are no longer willing to be a productive member of society.

[Patrick Kerrigan]

As a former Veterans Administration Police Detective, I am quite aware of these devices and other medical equipment that has been stolen from hospitals, clinics, and other non-medical related facilities. There have been a few recent incidents of medical lasers being stolen in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand.

[Amy]

It's a good thing that they were able to get a new tattoo removal laser in the end.