Fox 5 NewsJacob Edwards Bartels, Patty Jo Marsh were released on bond after charged with child cruelty.

Fox 5 NewsThe couple tattooed their six children with a homemade tattoo gun.

A Georgia couple is facing child cruelty charges for tattooing six of their children with a crude device made from a guitar string, says reports. 

Patty Jo Marsh and husband Jacob Edwards Bartels were arrested late last year after the biological mother of some of the children found that markings on their hands wouldn't wash off. 

They were each charged with three counts of illegal tattooing, second degree child cruelty and reckless conduct. The couple was released Friday after posting a property bond of $10,000 each. 

Both unlicensed tattooing and the tattooing of minors are illegal in Georgia. 

Five of their six children, ages 10 to 17, received small cross tattoos on their hands. Another child had "mom and dad" lettered on a hand. The youngest child was left unmarked. 

Police described the home-made tattoo gun as a plastic pen with a needle made from a guitar string that was connected to an electric motor. 

Marsh thinks the public overreacted to the tattoos.

"We would never do anything to hurt them," she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after her arrest. "I don't understand why this is getting blowed up so big."

John Everett, Chattooga County Sheriff, told the local paper that the case is unusual. "I've never seen parents tattooing their kids like that." 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/04/2010-07-04_georgia_couple_faces_child_cruelty_charges_after_tattooing_six_kids_with_home_ma.html#ixzz0sjM3nQYS