A young man reached out to KFOX14 after finding out the shop he says he went to for a piercing did not have the proper licenses.

The young man wanted to remain anonymous but told KFOX14 he and two friends got a body piercing at Absolon Carvan, a hooka shop inside Fox Plaza in Central El Paso.

"We thought he had to be a legit business and a licensed professional. We started being a little suspicious when he didn't even ask us for our ID. My girlfriend and I are 18, but her sister is underage," he said.

He captured video of another person getting a leg piercing in the same shop a week ago. In the video, the artist can be heard saying he is licensed.

"We later found out that he didn't have a license at all, and at first we were all scared. We thought, 'What if we got infected?'" he said.

City spokeswoman Tammy Fonce said code enforcement had been out to the shop twice after they received reports of the shop doing body piercings.

In order to do body piercings, shops must have a state and city license.

Inspectors went to the shop Oct. 3 and Oct. 11 but didn't find any evidence the shop was doing body piercings. An inspector returned to the shop Oct. 18 and caught the shopred-handed, the inspector said, and issued two citations; one to the owner and another to an artist for not having a Texas and city license to do body piercings.

The owner was not at the shop and could not be reached, but KFOX14 did speak to an employee over the phone. He goes by Matt and claimed he was the artist issued the citation. But the two citations issued were for Peter McDonald, who claimed to be the owner, and the artist, Victor Ontiveros.

Matt said the owner's name is Erika and that he does have a license for body piercing, but it is from Massachusetts, not Texas.

"Whoever is saying they got pierced there is wrong. No one has gotten any work done in that shop whatsoever. It's not legal, because we don't have a state license. We know this, and we haven't done any piercings," he said.

The city said it's going to continue to monitor the Absolon Caravan, which will have a court date for the violations it was cited for. The city also asks anyone who suspects a shop does not have the proper licenses to do tattoos or body piercings to call 915-599-6290.