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Subscribe to RSSA New Jersey woman arrested after police said she brought her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth said Wednesday that she was innocent of the charges but admits to excessive tanning herself.
Patricia Krentcil, 44, pleaded not guilty to second-degree child endangerment and said outside court that she is a "wonderful mother."
Asked whether she admits to excessive tanning, Krentcil said "yes," but insisted she would never subject her red-haired, fair-skinned daughter to the heat of a tanning bed.
The girl, who authorities said suffered a sunburn from the tanning booth, was allowed to stay in the home but is now being monitored by state child welfare workers.
For more, visit NBCNewYork.com
Krentcil insists her daughter was never exposed to the tanning booth's UV rays and instead got slightly sunburned while playing outside on a warm day.
The girl's father told NBC 4 New York that his daughter told classmates at school that she "went tanning with Mommy." He thinks a teacher overheard, inaccurately connected the girl's sunburn to the tanning salon trip and contacted police.
"This whole big thing happened, and everyone got involved," said Rich Krentcil. "It was 85 degrees outside, she got sunburned. That's it. That's all that happened."
Julio Cortez / AP
Patricia Krentcil, left, stands with her lawyer, John Caruso, during a court appearance on charges of child endangerment at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2.
Patricia Krentcil said she treats her tanning salon trips as an errand in which she brings along her daughter, but insists the booth lights were never exposed to the girl.
"It's like taking your daughter to go food shopping," she told NBC 4 New York at her Nutley, N.J. home on Tuesday after being released on $25,000 bail. "There's tons of moms that bring their children in."
"I tan, she doesn't tan," she continued. "I'm in the booth, she's in the room. That's all there is to it."
The incident happened over a week ago, but there did not appear to be any burns on the little girl Tuesday.
Patricia Krentcil said she's been visiting her local salon for more than 10 years, and doesn't know why her visits there with her daughter have suddenly been called into question.
In New Jersey, children under 14 are not allowed to tan at indoor salons, while those 14 to 17 years old may do so with signed parental consent.
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Its true its not about how the woman looks (ugg) but a person who has no respect for her own skin might not have any for her child or might think it good for the child, I wonder if she knows the child can be affected by being in the tanning room with her? By the way I wonder why a woman in her sixties would have such a young child, I am 62 and look way younger than that woman.
I read the story and didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation, then I took a gander at that picture. Good-gobbly-wobbly that is one damaged looking chick. Only 44? How do you say - "the Mummy Returns, and this time it's black"?
I saw this on Good Morning America this morning...wow, she looks like a saddlebag with eyes.
Ok, I got my joke out of the way.
How insane is this woman, just taking a child into a tanning salon, even if the kid was not in a tanning bed? It's the principle of the matter - she still took the kid there. The fact that she considers the tanning salon to be an errand is just plain crazy, for lack of better, more sophisticated words. I just can't think of a better way to describe it.
I admit that I visited a tanning salon more than few times between 2002 and 2005, but I was an adult by then (I'm 29 years old now, 30 in October). I would never tan again in a salon, I prefer slathering on alot of SPF 60 and sitting in the sun. I find I get a good tan that way, and am still protecting my skin. Thankfully, I don't see any kind of damage on my skin, and I'm actually lilly white right now (well, about as white as you can get with an olive complex).
This woman needs some serious help if she thinks its psychologically ok for her daughter to visit the tanning salon and to see an image that is not healthy. She also needs help if she thinks tanning is safe and necessary.
I too hope that younger women/teenage girls see this and it steers them away for tanning - ladies, this is what can happen to you!
I manage a tanning salon. There is only one person allowed in a room at a time. The reason for this is that you CAN burn even if you are not in the bed itself. Anyone of my employees allowed a child in the tan room, they would be fired on the spot. It is our policy not to allow anyone other than the tanner in the room. And you would be suprised by the number of people that try or that think there is nothing wrong with that.
P.S. Law makers in Illinois are trying to ban tanning for all those under the age of 18.
This is what happens to white women that want to pass as mexicans.Scarry
Mexican my azz, she looks as though she's going for African(except for those monkey lips).
"Then I saw here face.....now I'm a believer".....
hahaha! :D
A perfect public service announcement about the aging affects of serial tanning....
What astonishes me is that this woman has a husband!
How can he stand to look at her leathery face? He looks young enough to be her grandson.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Get it away!!!!! A WITCH!!!! Burn her at the stake!!!!
Jab, obviously the burning didn't work.. Try drowning her.. :P
She's only 44 and looks like that?! HOLY CRAP! I thought she was in her 90's! She should be the poster child for advertising against tanning! She looks absolutely AWFUL!
That is a Mother from New Jersey ? WOW ! I thought it was a Mexican version of Yoda. My bad.
The mom looks a tad over cooked to me...
OMG!!!!!!!!! Does she realize how she looks? OMG!!!!!!!!
The MORON MOM has the skin of an 80 year old.
She does look like a mummy! How disgusting!
Dang, this lady looks like she was left in a 120+ degree desert for a week, she looks terrible, especially her nose. Wonder if she thinks she looks good, yuk.
Hey america! this is none of any of our business, The next thing i think we all outght to do is, charge that octo mom for having a million kids on the taxpayer dime. All of society has completly lost its mind, this one takes the cake, Maybee we should just sterilize all women before they have kids. Let this mom raise her own child and shut up about it. We should take all moms to jail for letting their kids jump on a trampoline, or swimming at the beach, I mean there are sharks in that water, No roller skates for gods sake the child might scratch an elbow or something, When is america going to shut their mouths and let parents raise their own kids. This is absolutly the most stupid thing i have ever heard in my entire life now,
thisbudsforyo.............DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ASS ON YOUR WAY OUT.
hey corn cob learn how to stand up straight, and get that corn cob out of your ass.
You guys are killin' me this morning. By the way, I am 65 and I don't look like this. I am hurt.
Yes..., the mother is an idiot. That being said, the "PC Police" clowns at her school are even bigger idiots! Did it ever occur to them to call the Mom instead of the Police and see if the little girl's statement was accurate? It was..., but not in the sense they took it to be. If everybody would worry more about their own business instead of trying to get involved in other floks affairs, the world would be a better place.
She looks like Beef Teriyaki Jerkey. Are all Peeps from Jersey this stupid?
She ain't tanning, she's cooking!
I don't know if I believe that she put her daughter in the tanning bed. But GOOD LORD, somebody needs to grab this lady and put her out with a fire extinguisher!!! She is one crispy piece of toast!!! Does anyone actually think that looks GOOD?????? OMG....WAY WAY WAY TOO MUCH....I'll keep my pasty white butt, thanks!!!
See, even cockroaches give birth! It does not take rocket science to have a baby - WHERE ARE YOUR BRAINS WOMAN!!!!!!!!
OMG!! She looks like she has been tanning on the Sun. How can she possibly thinks she looks good?
You know how anorexics look in the mirror and no matter how emaciated they are, they think they look fat? Well, is there a similar disorder for people who tan excessively? Like, does this woman look in the mirror and see someone who is pale and sickly looking? That's the only explanation I can think of, because why else would she continue to tan when she is already so unnaturally dark and leathery?
I totally agree with you. She quite possibly does look in the mirror and see someone from Norway.
I have to wonder what responsibility does the owner of the tanning salon have regarding a woman who is clearly beyond any sort of an attractive tan. It would seem there was none... just holding out a hand for more dollars.
I wondered about the salon, too. Bartenders are not supposed to serve alcohol to people who are already intoxicated. Shouldn't tanning salons be prohibiting people who are this 'morbidly tan' from tanning any further?