New Jersey mother arrested for allegedly taking 5-year-old daughter tanning

NUTLEY, NJ - A mother in New Jersey is facing charges after she allegedly took her five-year-old daughter into a tanning booth.

Police say the girl suffered burns to her body.  The little girl and her mother, however, give a different account of what happened.

Five-year-old Anna Krentcil says she's not really sure if she even went to a tannin salon with her mother.

Patricia Krentcil, 44, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a minor.  She's accused of taking her daughter to a salon where the girl reportedly received second-degree burns.

"We went for a walk, and I tan.  She doesn't tan.  It's called a tanning booth and a tanning room.  I'm in the booth, she's in the room," said Patricia Krentcil.  "She doesn't go in there.  She's my little girl.  I'm not going to bring my little daughter into a 90-degree bed.  I mean, that's not normal."

Anna's parents have another explanation for the burns.  They say she was playing in the back yard the same day as the alleged tanning incident.  It was 80 degrees outside and they say Anna suffered a minor sunburn.

At school the next day, Anna told her friends she went tanning with mommy, which her parents think was overheard by teachers, who saw the burn, made an assumption and called the police.

"She got sunburned," said Richard Krentcil, Anna's father.  "That's it, that's all that happened."

New Jersey law prohibits kids under 14 from going tanning at a salon.  The salon denies she was ever there.