Updated as of January 13th, 2025: It has been six long years (2019) since myself and four other brave women went to the police department in Boystown in Chicago to report our stories. I hate calling them stories. It lends credence to the already high belief that women en masse make false claims against men who have caused them bodily harm. We told our stories, with hope in our hearts that justice would ideally be swift but mostly served. We were wrong.

Nathan Galman (@nathantattoos) was once an up & coming watercolor tattoo artist, a local Chicago phenomenon and a story of mental triumph. He was known for getting into a horrific motorcycle accident, being as he claimed “internally decapitated” but managed to survive. He tells this story in a tatoo magazine: (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153308587754729&id=102702399728&set=a.473519684728

 Once a quadriplegic, he miraculously gained the ability to walk, and then returned to tattooing, his career before the accident. You would think a second chance at life would offer someone humanity to live their life to fullest, and most positive way you could, putting good into the world as thanks for your survival. But not Nathan Galman. Nathan decided becoming a local Chicago terror was more apropos for his life, leading a rampage that could still be potentially ongoing, leaving a lengthy list of alleged (alleged for legal reasons – how I feel is obvious.) victims in his path.

Myself? I met Nathan Galman when I was 19 & he was 35 years old. Yes, you read that correctly. Admittedly, I was on a dating app, going through a lot, had just been dumped by a guy I had liked. Was 19 and thought I could take on the world. None of this excuses the upcoming. I will spare the gory details, again for legal reasons, but that 35-year-old man terrorized me for 6 long months with little pop ups later. Who knew half a year of abuse could lead to lifelong trauma?  

You will notice this pattern if you are close to the case. It seems he (allegedly) prefers young women, with limited support systems, mental health issues, substance abuse issues, etc. Any perceived vulnerability seemed to be a plus to him. A shocking amount of considerably younger women make up the very long list of victims & overall negative encounters with this man.

The crime list varies, he is the jack of all trades of abuse. (Alleged)

We have accusations of sexual assault & rape, domestic violence, physical assault, sexual harassment, harassment (via messaging) & a plethora of miscellaneous complaints. Not all of which are crimes, but the character descriptions of Nathan speak volumes alongside the formal accusations of actual alleged crimes.

So, let’s get to the meat & potatoes. Why hasn’t this man been arrested if he has been known locally of being a serial (alleged) abuser?

Reporting is hard. I commend everyone who did. But of myself and the other 4, I am the only one who continued to follow up. That is not a cast judgement on any of the women who reported. I am endlessly proud of all of you and will continue to be to the end of my days. However, factually, with only one person following up, 4 other leads went dark. My own account is not nearly as well documented as others, and even less documented as some of the more recent accusations that have not been reported. I spoke with a detective in October 2024 because of some commotion about him on the internet, and the new detective (thank God we got a new detective) said with immense amounts of empathy that because no reports have been made, there could not be any progress to be reported back to me. But if there ever is, it will require looking into on her part. She was so empathetic, understanding, and heard my concerns. Unlike the former detective, who outright looked me in the face and said, “you know you’re trying to send someone to jail, right?” as if I hadn’t had the thought that being in an interrogation room at a police department had legal ramifications for the accused. Of course I knew that. The former detective herself was a woman who very clearly had no interest in pursuing our claims and outright told me personally this could easily appear to be a case of scorned lovers ganging up against a man.

Any sense of receiving justice at that point faded. It quickly became healing & moving on and accepting the reality that I became a statistic.

Well, as years have passed more & more women and LGBTQIA+ folks have come out with accusations, and he is well known on pages about protecting women for being (allegedly to all of the following) violent, aggressive & for introducing many people to Crack without their knowledge.

It still baffles me every day that nothing as of right now has ever happened to this man as a result of the sheer amount of young women in Chicago (and other cities bc he traveled a lot for tattooing also) he has (allegedly) victimized.

I still remember the shock when he posted my court documents claiming that my claim that he choked me until I went unconscious was a falsehood, only to see many comments defaming me, calling me a liar and praising him as a good man. As years have passed, other women have shared, some after hearing my story, some without hearing it, that they too were choked until they lost consciousness.

Today, his Instagram account that had once 10k+ followers is hemorrhaging due to a past partner of his using Nathans own account, and exposing him for his aggression in videos this person recorded, and speaking her truth about what she endured for a long period of time. Bless her soul. Some comments had said he is going by another name (deleted now, I think?), many comments critiquing this womans’ method of speaking her truth. That is neither here nor there, and if I may be honest the public exposure was needed, whether you agree with the methodology or not. Other comments claiming he has sent them many “creepy messages” about a “free tattoo in exchange for a date” (how many of his victims have his tattoos on him? I know several, me included.) Others sharing words of support, some saying they were offered work and then shortly thereafter there were propositions of sex. Some insulted him.

This man deserves to be in prison. He used his disability as a disarming tactic against so many women in the Chicagoland area & elsewhere, only to reveal his true self, a predator, a wolf in sheeps clothing. (alleged). The suffering needs to stop. To this day I receive gut wrenching emails of women pouring out their souls sharing the most vulnerable they have ever felt with me, and I can only respond and urge them to report if they feel a crime was committed. Then I open my notes app, add their name to a long list of now 35 (about to be 36, I have to add a name) people, a brief description of the claim, and an indication if the claim is considered a crime in the state they reside in.

He has been largely seemingly exiled from shops. At first because of the momentum from myself and the other 4 women. But then, he was not able to act appropriately to his coworkers or to clients. One client claiming in a seemingly now-deleted Facebook post (that I have archived on a google drive, don’t worry) that he allegedly did crack and exposed himself to this person during their tattoo.

I don’t want to add any more names. But the only way that can change is through the proper channels, and hopefully with enough corroboration, I will not have to add any more names ever again. If you suspect that you were the victim of a crime at the hands of tattoo artist Nathan Galman also known online as @nathantattoos, please go into or call your local police department and report.

If you are in need of moral/emotional support, feel free to reach out to stopnathangalman@gmail.com to share your story. You will always be heard & supported. I believe in survivors, and so many others do. I wish the many victims continuous prosperity and happiness in their lives, I hope many have healed, and I wish you all the utmost joy in your life.

With so much love.