Mom: Daughter, 6, didn't tan at salon

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NUTLEY, N.J., May 2 (UPI) -- A New Jersey woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a child endangerment charge, denying she allowed her 6-year-old daughter to tan at a salon.

Patricia Krentcil, 44, of Nutley, appeared in Superior Court in Newark, WCBS-TV, New York, reported.

"My client is 150 percent innocent," John D. Caruso, Krentcil's attorney, said. "That child was never in that tanning booth."

Krentcil did not speak during her brief court appearance except to say, "Thank you, your honor. Have a nice day."

Krentcil has said she has brought her daughter Anna to a tanning salon but would not let her daughter go into a tanning booth with her.

"It didn't happen," Krentcil said. "She's 6 years old. Yes, she does go tanning with mommy but not in the booth."

Prosecutors said Krentcil took her daughter to a tanning salon near her home and brought her into a tanning bed, causing slight sunburn.

When a school nurse asked how she got the sunburn, WCBS reported, Anna replied, "I go tanning with mommy."

Krentcil was then arrested.

State law prohibits children under the age of 14 from using tanning salons.

Staff members at the tanning salon told police said they did not see the girl in the booth, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

Krentcil said her daughter got the sunburn playing in the back yard.

"Look at my daughter's picture. She's as pale as a ghost, she has red hair," Krentcil said outside court Wednesday. "I'm a great mother, I'm a wonderful mother. I would die right now for her."

Krentcil's next court appearance is scheduled for June 4.