By Dave Warner
Feb 26 (Reuters) – The case of the deeply bronzed New Jersey
woman known as “Tan Mom” appears destined to fade away. A grand
jury declined to indict her on child endangerment charges, a
prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Patricia Krentcil was arrested in April 2012 after her then
5-year-old daughter showed up at school with a sunburn and
officials accused her of taking the child into a tanning booth.
At the time, the blonde mother’s chocolate-brown hue
testified to many hours spent under the intense ultraviolet
light of a tanning bed or out in the sun soaking up rays.
New Jersey is among several states that have adopted
regulations prohibiting anyone age 14 or under from tanning with
using ultraviolet devices because of the risk of skin cancer.
A grand jury considering the case against Krentcil, 44, of
Nutley, New Jersey, decided not to indict her on charges of
endangering the welfare of a child, the Essex County
prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
“We presented all the available evidence in the case to the
grand jury,” said Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Gina Iosim.
“The grand jurors voted not to indict Mrs. Krentcil. … We
respect their decision,” Iosim said.
Krentcil’s attorney Natalia Diaz hailed the panel’s
decision, noting that the mother of could have faced a prison
term of up to 10 years had she been convicted of the charge.
“The case was just basically ridiculous,” Diaz said. “It’s
almost like a witch hunt.”
The child, now 6, is fair-skinned and showed up at school
with a sunburn after spending time outside on a sunny day, not
in a tanning booth, Diaz said.
Krentcil, who is also “very, very fair skinned,” said she
frequented tanning booths because she wanted to look “nice and
dark,” Diaz said. But that is all in the past.
“She no longer tans like that,” Diaz said.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg)
