NEWARK, N.J. A woman whose own skin is deeply bronze-colored from regular visits to a tanning salon has been accused of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth in violation of state law, burning the girl s skin.
Patricia Krentcil, 44, of Nutley, was in court Wednesday to face a charge of child endangerment. New Jersey law prohibits anyone under 14 from using tanning salons.
Outside court, Krentcil called the accusation a lie.
It s all made up, she said.
She told The Associated Press her daughter got sunburned by being outside on a recent warm day. She said her daughter, however, had mentioned to school officials when she complained of itching that she had been to a tanning salon with her mother.
She had told various TV stations her daughter was in the room at the salon but not in the stand-up tanning booth.
Krentcil said she loves tanning and has visited salons for many years but would not do anything to jeopardize her daughter s health.
Never in my life would I endanger my child by putting her in a tanning booth. I m not dumb, she said before her scheduled hearing.
Police in Nutley told The Record newspaper they were called to the child s school April 24 because the kindergartner was in pain from a pretty severe sunburn.
