DANVERS — After receiving word of a botched body piercing, the public health inspector shut down Almoda Jewelry in the Liberty Tree Mall around 3 p.m. Wednesday after he found a back-room operation where it appeared an illegal body-piercing parlor had been set up.

The store lacks a permit from the town to perform body piercing, according to the Board of Health. The room where the body piercing went on was found behind a partition, out of view from the rest of the store, which sells handbags and jewelry, Health Inspector Mark Carleo told the Board of Health last night.

In the room, Carleo said he found clamps, hollow core needles and used "sharps," along with mouthwash used in tongue- and lip-piercing procedures, hydrogen peroxide and gloves.

Unregulated body-piercing operations are more likely to spread blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, said Health Inspector Peter Mirandi, who said the Board of Health was unaware of any such cases due to piercing procedures at the store.

"We just know they have been performing piercings," Carleo said, adding he could not say how long it has been going on.

Board of Health members Martha Swindell and Dr. Robert Kellard voted to impose a $600 fine on Almoda, which it must pay before it can reopen. The board also required the partition and piercing equipment to be removed before the store can reopen.

Carleo said he seized 22 customer forms for piercing, but none involved a minor.

The town's body art and piercing regulations allow the Danvers to impose a $300-a-day fine and to shut the store without a hearing. Carleo said he invited the owner, Toni Daaboul, to last night's hearing in the Senior Center on Stone Street, but Daaboul did not appear. A message seeking comment from Daaboul last night after the hearing was not returned.

Danvers Patrolman Derek Colella went to the mall around 2:55 p.m. to assist Carleo in closing the store, said police spokesman Sgt. Robert Bettencourt, but police had no further involvement in the case.

Carleo said the Board of Health got an anonymous tip from an out-of-town body art establishment that had seen a customer whose piercing "had not gone well." The complaint identified Almoda at the Liberty Tree Mall on Independence Way.

Presently, Danvers does not permit body-piercing establishments, Public Health Director Peter Mirandi said.

Carleo said he went to the store Wednesday afternoon and was told the store only pierces ears. Ear piercing does not require a permit. However, Carleo also noticed some of the jewelry for sale — barbells and rings — was not meant for ears. Looking around, Carleo found a partition and the back-room operation.

"They were doing body piercing, obviously," Carleo said. He was told the room was only used for training, and that's when Carleo found the customers' forms.

"At that point, I informed them they were closed," Carleo said. He obtained the owner's information and informed the mall office to make sure security kept the store's gate closed. Carleo subsequently met with the owner and asked him, "What made you think you could do this without a permit?"

Carleo said the owner pleaded ignorance of the regulations, but Carleo said cousins of the owner had sought him out some months before seeking the requirements to obtain a permit, which includes taking classes in anatomy and physiology, courses that can take a year to complete.

"He wants his store to reopen at this time just selling handbags and jewelry," Carleo said.

"We have to send a strong message to this person," said Swindell, a nurse who was concerned if anyone had been maimed or become seriously ill. Mirandi said the store was handling infectious waste improperly, disposing the sharps container with its trash.

A spokeswoman for the mall, Lisa Bell, declined comment and said questions should be directed to the store's owner.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.