Posted For: Hauviette
A Tennessee mother is asking a judge for leniency after authorities accused her of allowing her 5-year-old daughter to assist in her body-waxing business.
Jasmine Moss, 30, faces one count each of child abuse and child neglect, according to the Memphis Police Department. Investigators say the alleged conduct occurred in early 2024.
On Feb. 15, 2024, police began receiving complaints about a social media post promoting Moss’s waxing services. Officers say the now-deleted Instagram post included images showing Moss’s young daughter applying hot wax to the intimate areas of adult clients, according to Memphis CBS affiliate WREG.
Authorities allege Moss operated the hair-removal business out of a home on Glenbrook Street and that the child assisted with waxing more than two dozen clients over an eight-hour period. The post claimed the girl “helped me wax 24 clients … [and] made a total of $744,” money Moss said she planned to save for her daughter’s future, NBC affiliate WMC-TV reported.
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance said it received 86 complaints about the business following the post’s circulation. The case has moved slowly since Moss’s 2024 arrest: prosecutors sent the allegations to a grand jury in May 2024, and she was indicted in January 2025. Additional state investigations have also been opened, according to courtroom reporting by WREG.
Moss’s attorney, Blake Ballin, said the defense hopes to persuade prosecutors to dismiss the charges, calling the matter “unusual” and complicated by parallel child-services and licensing inquiries in Tennessee.
Ballin has argued that child-abuse and neglect cases typically require proof of physical harm, which he says has not been shown. While he acknowledged concerns about Moss’s parenting choices, he contends they do not rise to criminal conduct and noted that child-services authorities have allowed the girl to remain in her mother’s custody.
The judge overseeing the case agreed to delay proceedings to allow both sides more time to explore a possible resolution. Addressing Moss in court, the judge said the parties would continue working to determine how the case should ultimately be resolved.