Last Updated: June 19, 2009 - 09:36 AM

MOUNT VERNON — A 48-year-old nail technician could face an assault charge over a dispute with a teenager about a set of 1-inch long, pumpkin-orange fake fingernails.

The nail technician from Mukilteo denies she grabbed the 13-year-old Burlington girl. But the technician said they argued over the design of the girl’s nails and that the girl tried to leave without paying.

Both the teen and the technician left the scene unhappy — one without the specific design she wanted on her nails and the other without getting paid what she felt she was owed.

A Mount Vernon police officer was called to a nail spa on East College Way on Wednesday afternoon with a report that a nail technician had grabbed a girl and tried to remove her fake fingernails, according to police spokeswoman Jill Boudreau.

The technician said during an interview in her shop Thursday that the girl, her mother and grandmother came into the spa together. The girl picked out a set of nails with an intricate design that combined silver glitter, black scrolls and fake rhinestones.

The technician said she spent about 30 minutes gluing the nail set on the girl. Then she retrieved her supplies for the design. She soon realized she only had enough of the black scroll stickers for eight or nine nails.

She told the girl that she couldn’t do them all exactly the same, but she had similar designs, the technician said.

The Burlington teen became upset, and her mother joined in the argument, Boudreau said.

The girl and her mother didn’t want to pay, the technician said. She said she replied that without payment, the girl couldn’t keep the nails.

The teen told police the technician grabbed her hand and tried to pry the nails off.

The technician says the argument was strictly verbal.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” the technician said.

It’s basically a case of the technician’s word against the teen’s, Boudreau said.

One witness refused to cooperate with police.

The technician said she has worked in the manicure and pedicure business for 20 years and has never had an incident like Wednesday’s.

Police are referring the case to the city’s prosecutor for a possible misdemeanor assault charge.

The technician said the nails plus her labor were worth about $30. Once the police arrived, the girl and her mother agreed to pay $10.