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Charles Norfleet/Getty Images
Patricia Krentcil attends "Tan Mom" Patricia Krentcil Skin Cancer Foundation Event at Westchester MMA-Fit on September 21, 2012 in Mt Kisco, New York.
The New Jersey woman whose deeply bronzed complexion made her a national punchline after she was charged with putting her 5-year-old daughter in a tanning bed has been cleared of criminal charges.
A grand jury refused to indict Patricia Krentcil on a child-endangerment charge for allegedly violating a state law that bans children from using tanning salons, NBC New York reported Tuesday.
Krentcil, of Nutley, N.J., was arrested after her daughter appeared in school with burns on her legs last April. Her mother said they were from swimming outside and that she never put the child in a tanning bed.
After she was first arrested, Krentcil told NBC New York that she treated her tanning salon trips as an errand in which she brings along her daughter, but insisted the booth lights were never exposed to the girl.
"It's like taking your daughter to go food shopping," she said. "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."
It's against the law in New Jersey for any child under 14-year-old to use an artificial tanning booth.
“We presented all the available evidence in the case to the grand jury, both the state’s evidence and the defense’s evidence,” said Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Gina Iosim. “The grand jurors voted not to indict Mrs. Krentcil. We respect their decision."
Krentcil, 44, has admitted she went overboard with the ultraviolet rays that gave her a skin tone some likened to a roasted nut and made her the target of standup comics and late-night monologues.
She even took up a magazine's offer to stay away from the salons for a month and emerged looking much healthier, but complaining she felt "weird and pale."
More recently, she told the New York Daily News she was contemplating a move to overcast London, but denied it was because she had been banned by local tanning salons who considered her bad for business.
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What a useless, senseless prosecution! If a grand jury - which has been said could indite a ham sandwich - found no reason to prosecute, then why couldn't the idiot prosecutor have done even the most rudimentary of investigations and come to the same conclusion?
Grandstanding fools. There isn't enough real crime in New Jersey, one of the most corrupt states in the Union - they have to go after booth-tanning moms.
I'll retire to Bedlam.
OH NOO !!
It's the crazy Al Jolson Lady AGAIN !!
BWAAAAhahahaha She must be a visitor from the Bizarro Superman Universe
Well, they did make headlines and made a fool and laughing stock out of her life to the point she considered moving but couldn't because she didn't know which way she would end up going or whether or not she would even have custody of her children. The good news being that the prosecutors are immune from any damages they needlessly and carelessly caused the woman.
I'm thinking Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Gina Iosim might have been making a mountain out of a mole hill..........shooting for a promotion, wasting taxpayer money on a non-issue?
she was at a local skin cancer event.....weird
Good for her. She maybe a little overboard with her tanning habits but that doesn't make her a bad mom.
@bandit
I little overboard? LOL!
When I first saw the picture of her I thought it was the troll on Ernest Scared Stupid.
Mike....wrong!! this is BAD >>>> The good news being that the prosecutors are immune from any damages they needlessly and carelessly caused the woman.
Plenty of cases where prosecuters went after people to make a name for themselves and ruined lives...and then said...oops...and walked away scott free...
the law needs to be changed on that!!!!!
Krentcil statements are doubtful. Against the background of her pathological obsession with tanning, for allowing her 5 year daughter to receive a sunburn, this woman should have been held accountable for negligence. Surely, this "mother" knows the risks of exposure to ultraviolet rays. Although her skin has been severely damaged from tanning, her unwell mental state dictates that she should still tan, and tan and tan.
Krentcil may have wanted her child to receive a tan, and this might be the reason why her young daughter received a sunburn.
"Roasted and nut" are understatements!
She was charged with putting her 5 yr old in a booth and she got burned. I don't agree with over tanning. Or 5 year olds tanning. shesh
Why on earth would your statement be collapsed. What a bunch of morons that that collapse on MSN. There are so many morons that the moderators can not even uncollapse all the comments.
@John Hunt, who the hell are you to judge someone like her?? Probably grew up as a bully, I suspect.
I agree. The most this should have been was a "child protection" case and not a legal case. What a waist of state funds.
This isn't a case of "mama" rode the rail & fell off. She did, & so did the father. ANYTIME you fail your children in this manner is child abuse....period! And, again where is the father? This case has taken so long to bring about, why? The mother has de-railed & so has the father.... did anyone see / hear his response? SHE is coo-coo for koko puffs, and so is the dad for looking the other way while he hides his head in the sand. It's one thing to love your wife & "allow" her behavior, but to allow this to bear on your own child.... dumb arse you are. Whatever your wife didn't / wouldn't understand from the medical world most certainly should NOT be passed onto your own daughter at such a young age. MAYBE... your daughter doesn't want to look like old, weathered leather of your aged baseball mitt.
Yup, definitely child abuse, lock her up! I heard she even went so far as to fart in the same room as children under the age of three. That damn b*tch!
Rhonda,
Agreed. A tan is actually the result of damage to the skin. It is the human body's reaction to UV rays.
Science have proved that sunburns that occur early in life, result in skin cancer, later in life.
Ok shes exactly the reason I dont tan! Who wants to look like chewed up leather? Anyway this isn't a case for a courtroom. It sounds like they need to delegate it to the local Child Protective Services... wasting the court's time and the taxpayers' money to try her.
She should sign a donor card so they can use her skin to make a few belts and leather seats for a special edition BMW........
Ewwww, I wouldn't buy, sit, or spit on that leather.
Maybe she will donate her skin to a Hollywood studio after her passing. Which one is doing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboots again?....
I have to disagree, chewed leather is much softer and prettier.
This lady is still in the news??? Talk about a turd that won't flush.
That's what I'm thinking... Next up, a story about Octomom! Sigh!
Octomom, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama. They just cant get enough media attention.
heaven forbid lol
In her defense, she didn't exactly seek out the attention. It was forced upon her by an overzealous prosecutor and late night talks show hosts.
My point exactly, Xina.
This woman doesn't want to be in the news. Big brother put her in the news. I think she looks like a belt but she can do what she wants. There is no evidence to support their claim. Her daughter is red haired and fair skinned. A red haired and fair skinned person can get a severe sunburn in ten minutes at the pool. 10 minutes in a tanning booth would fry her.
What's wrong with Michelle Obama? She can do whatever she wants and the one that brought here into the news are those who hate her or the media.
It's not exactly a guideline what a first lady should do. Talk about picking someone and try to make them look bad.
In Michele Obama's defense-She looks liked she's a lot of fun and very approachable. I'd hang out with her.
Xina.... no, it wasn't forced in any way. She, herself chose to take her daughter at a young age to this franchise, & other patrons were alarmed & chose to report her behavior. Geesh, this is exactly what SHOULD be going on. Does not anyone understand? HER DAUGHTER should NOT have been there...PERIOD! And like it or not, MORE people that DO understand it reported it. CLEARLY, it was NOT a ONE time thing. Child endangerment...if you don't get it now, then maybe you never will....sad for you & yours.
Definition of child endangerment: taking any child under age of 16 to McDonald's.
She does at least look allot better now - however some of the wrinkles can also come from long term cigarette smoking. I have many friends that look like this and they don't tan - they smoke.
I'm glad she wasn't prosecuted. Tanning is a choice she made for herself and doesn't mean she's a bad mom. In fact, maybe she's a good example for her daughter on making choices to protect her fair skin. I believe her daughter had red hair, so tanning would really damage her skin. I think it's too late for her mom.
Saying that, I can't believe she's 44!!! She looks a lot older than me and I'm almost 62. However, I stay out of the sun and use SPF (highest level) whenever I know I'll be outside. Because I'm fair, I burn, then tan, but it's not a good tan and haven't "laid out" for a tan since I was 18. I have very few wrinkles because I don't tan, smoke or drink hard liquor (or soft)! But...that's my choice, too, and I love getting compliments for my porcelain, pale, fair skin.
Kristi,
Dang, where to begin.... Tanning is a choice. OK to each their own. However, as a Mother you do NOT, SHOULD NOT put your child in the very circumstance that is a detriment to them. Wow, we now know that don't we? The statement of "she's a good example for her daughter on making choices to protect her fair skin"? HUH, WOW, WHAT? What meds are you on? Did you have a typo? What are you talking about? FIRST....fair skin should be in the sun even less than...... SECOND, just where was loco mom giving a good example on making choices? The daughter was too young, or mama wanted to expose her to more skin cancers? Seriously, have you lost your mind defending this? Lordy, I pray for you & yours. Have some/most/all mothers lost their ever freaking minds?
Next she'll get a reality show rivalling Honey Boo Boo, make millions of dollars and retire in style with the Kardashians in a gated community somewhere
I should have saved my Octomom comment for your post and wrote:
Or do a movie with Octomom calling it, "Octomom Meats Leatherface!"
Take away one of the M's in the title and add John Wayne Bobbit to the cast and you have the beginnings of a freak-filled porn movie!
new jersey should have to cover any legal expense that she has incurred.
Leatherface returns.
Holly sheep shyyt. Who in their right mind wanted to prosecute her???? I cannot believe the DA did not throw it out of court, or the judge for that matter. C'mon people. Get with it. Aya
Wow. This lady is only a little older than me but she looks like she could be my mom. Genetics and environment. I guess when your environment is a tanning salon it can wreck havoc on your looks. I have to admit she does look better now than the vid and pics when the story first broke.
she is few yrs younger then me,an she looks like my mom too.
I cannot believe she has a 5 yr old daughter. Who in their right mind would of
impregnated her. Wow, crazy just there alone.
Love truly is blind.
It was either love or he had a really good pair of Beer goggles that night.
Hey beer has helped ugly people get get sex for centuries!!! :)
Holly sheep shyyyt. Shes as old as me. Damn I thought she was in her fricken 60's. this is why I said who in their right mind would of
impregnated her. Damn, thats fricken crazy.
I"m outta here. I must go look in the mirror .
Have some compassion, she does look better than in the original photol
Will someone please flip this Mom over she os done on the back and needs to go Face Down for a few years
I completely believe she never allowed her daughter in a tanning booth. She still looks older than her stated 44 and is no beauty to begin with but her obsession with tanning was far from a normal attempt to improve her looks. The leathery tanned look did nothing for her appearance...would be nice if she were able to abstain but like all obsessions I suspect it will never go away. I would put money on her buying a home tanning bed eventually and would also bet she will develop multiple skin cancers in the future and her eventual cause of death will end up to be metastic melanoma.
@ozymandias rising
Agreed! She said that she didn't, the kid said she didn't, and the salon employees said she didn't. This case proves one thing, however... beware the public schools! The police and D.A. got involved when some busybody at the child's school called them. It seems like school administrators have decided that they are the behavior monitors for all the rest of us.
What is wrong with the justice system! Hopefully that young child will not develop the deadly disease melanoma from her mother's not thinking! Too many people are dying from the use of taning beds, even though the child wasn't exactly in the bed, the rays still come out around it. Shame on you NJ grand jury shame on you!
The daughter was never in the tanning booth....no rays to get.
OLD DOG...it is the new thing...the government is going to run every single facet of your life. You will never have to think again...BUT there WILL be consequences for letting the government have total control of our lives. Beware. The feds are condoning/encouraging/demanding total control.
But if you have to die of cancer why not a painless one? I envy the oncology patients that have melanoma, they only hurt the last one or 2 days.
Her tanning is an illness , kinda like hoarding or gambling , ect . Seems she's getting it under control ,so good for her . However , tax payers dollars at good use for the fame of tax paid employee's .
Someone on my street took a vacation down to some southern island and came back with black skin. This woman doesn't even look anything quite like the above description.
Leatherface should have her ass in jail.
For what exactly? If they ever make stupidity a crime you'll need to watch out!
Why try her? Melanoma will kick in soon enough.
You got your medical degree where? Maybe a cereal box.
olddog, child endangerment thats what for, she is a bad parent, good parents lead by example, shes an example of what dumb and mentally f*cked is, she shouldnt be allowed to take care of a rock no less a kid.
44 year old mother indeed. She is setting a horrible example at best. She looks 10 years older. I am almost 57 and look younger than her, but that is what tanning booth addiction does to you.....if it doesn't cause cancer.
She looks like she fit right in that showtime series Shameless...acts like it too... trailer trash abounds
No amount of tanning is going to help with a face like that.
Who cares, she wants to burn herself, some people pierce themselves all over, some people text or drink and drive, some people jump out of airplanes, and the list goes on. Just put a stick up her butt and hold her over a camp fire and be done with it.
This woman is only 44, really?
If she is 44, then that makes her only 8 years older than myself. Sadly, she looks old enough to be MY mom! Heck, my own mom looks younger than she does(and my mom is almost 60)!
im 48 and she looks at least 20 yrs older than me, an i think i look in my mid 40s if someone would have to guess, but ppl age differently regardless of her turnin herself into a crocodile, she used to actually be nice looking when she was in her 20s they had a pic or her back when this became public info, she is obviously addicted like addicted to any other thing or drug and therefore is in no mental shape to take care of a kid. she must know how hideous and frightening she looks, theres no point puttin ppl with mental issues in prison if they r not puttin the public at risk, she was puttin her daughter at risk and thats what needs to b delt with.
I thought that was Boehner in drag. Oh so darn hot.
Ernie...that was the most stupid remark here today.
She should sue the people that put her in jail.