Mom denies taking girl into tanning booth

NEWARK -- A deeply tanned mother accused of causing skin burns to her young daughter, taking her into a tanning booth, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a second-degree child endangerment charge. The salon owner seemed to corroborate her story.

Through her attorney, Patricia Krentcil, 44, pleaded not guilty in Newark Municipal Court and was freed on $2,500 cash bond.

Krentcil, whose skin has a deep bronze color from regular visits to the tanning salon, has called the accusation a lie. "It's all made up," she said.

She told The Associated Press her daughter, 5 at the time of the alleged incident in mid-April and now 6, got sunburned by being outside on an unseasonably 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.

Krentcil had told various TV stations her daughter was in the room at the salon but not in the stand-up tanning booth.

The owner of City Tropics Salon in Nutley said employees there that day told him the girl stayed outside with her father and brother and didn't go into the tanning booth while her mother was inside.

Police said they were called to the child's school April 24 because the kindergartner was in pain from a "pretty severe sunburn." The child is still living at home. The state's child welfare agency is monitoring the family. -- AP