The tanning-obsessed NJ mother accused of taking her young daughter to a tanning salon, resulting in the daughter getting a severe sunburn, was in court today. Patricia Krentcil, 44, pleaded not guilty to the charge of child endangerment and her lawyer said, "Forget about the presumption of innocence; my client is 150 percent innocent. She loves that child more than her whole life. She would never, ever allow her child to go inside a tanning bed."
A school nurse found a severe sunburn on Krentcil's 6-year-old daughter's arm. When asked how she got it, the child replied, "I go tanning with Mommy." Krentcil says her daughter has visited the salon with her, but explained she would never allow her into the booth with her. Also, Krentcil and her husband say their daughter got the sunburn on a very sunny day.
Krentcil's mugshot
owner Anthony told the Nutley Sun that Krentcil is a regular customer who tans about 20 times a month. When we spoke to him, he emphasized that he would never allow a child into the tanning booth—"I have seven kids!"—and says Krentcil's now-very dark complexion is "not tanning." He believes that Krentcil used a self-tanning product, "Look at her mugshot." The Essex County Prosecutor's Office thinks the mugshot was taken when she was arrested on April 24, and Anthony says Krentcil hasn't been in the salon since then. He also raised the possibility that Krentcil could have gone tanning at another salon.
City Tropics offers an "unlimited" tanning package for $99/month. When asked whether City Tropics staff would limit a customer's visits to the salon, Anthony said it depends on the person. "You can only tan once a day," but thought that going every day in a month seemed extreme. He only tans twice a week, with spray-tanning.
