Rihanna To Face Tattoo Penalties

Seems Rihanna thought that it would be just nifty to give someone, or two, or three a tattoo of her infamous umbrellas in NYC last night. Unfortunately... the fun was also illegal.

Rihanna herself, picked up a tattoo needle last night at a parlor in NYC. We're told RiRi tattooed three of East Side Ink's artists with umbrellas and the letter R. None of her pet projects cared that she didn't have a license, but you better believe that the New York City Law Department did. They say Rihanna could be slapped with three misdemeanors for the offense, each with its own hefty penalty, which could be as much as $300 for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for the third.

Sources say the tattoo shop could also face considerable fines of its own if the NYC Law Dept. decides to open an investigation.

UPDATE: The NYC Health Department just told TMZ: "Only licensed tattoo artists can administer tattoos in the city according to the City's Health Code and they also plan to investigate the incident. All I wanna know is... who the hell snitched? I mean really... I know the NYC Health Dept wasn't there... so somebody went and ran their mouth!