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Not often does a news story involving child abuse make me crave an extra-crispy family-sized bucket of KFC, but leave it to the Internet to make the unthinkable thinkable. Patricia Krentcil, a forty-four-year-old mother from New Jersey, was recently released on a $25,000 bail after she took her five-year-old daughter tanning. Because Chuck E. Cheese is sooooooooo early '90s and what's that phrase we were taught in school? "A harsh beam of synthetic ultraviolet rays radiating our body keeps the doctors away?" Maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly.

Despite suffering burns, the five-year-old showed up to school the next day with what appeared to be a huge-ass sunburn and told the class she "went tanning with mommy."

When asked about the incident, the girl's father denied she was ever in the booth and blamed the sun for the major burns. 

This whole big thing happened, and everyone got involved. It was 85 degrees outside, she got sunburned. That's it. That's all that happened.  

It was probably that ten or twenty second walk from the car to the tanning salon that caused the daughter's massive burns. That's why I follow the advice my grandfather gave me on his death bed: "Jeremy, wear sunscreen everywhere you go. Even if you're gonna be inside all day. You never know when that Nazi sun is gonna git ya." And if I gave him lip about it, he would smack my face right off my head.

Patricia went on to say that it's pretty normal for kids to be exposed to the luxurious world of tanning. 

It's like taking your daughter to go food shopping. There's tons of moms that bring their children in. 

Okay, so obviously Patricia isn't going to leave her daughter home alone while she turns herself into a rotisserie chicken, but what's the next best thing? Leaving her alone in the waiting room of the tanning salon? Do you know what kind of people go tanning? People who have dollar signs in their names and dress their puppies in vests. That's not a safe environment for a five-year-old girl. 

Commentarium (7 Comments)

May 02 12 - 3:28pm
profrobert

1. She's 44? She looks 57. That's what tanning does for your skin.

2. What the heck is going on with her lower lip? Is that black underlining lipstick? A shadow? A tattoo? A long, thin melanoma?

May 02 12 - 3:41pm
uipoli extremities.

I am definitely a racist motherfucker when it comes to gross orange people.

May 02 12 - 8:28pm
forthcl sculptor

Holy fucking shit that photo above isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Watch the video for something truly horrifying:

https://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2012/05/02/nr-mom-arrested...

What the fuck is wrong with this... thing? Does it actually think it looks good? How does its husband not run screaming from the room?

May 03 12 - 12:13pm
profrobert

HFS is right! Oh, man, where is the brain bleach? She looks mummified.

May 03 12 - 11:08am
Lia

Child abuse is a very serious allegation. My uncle is in family law, and he's seen allegations (later proven false) totally ruin people's lives. I know a story isn't worth reporting at Hooksexup unless the author can find a way to take a snarky tone, but really, is the suggestion that a little girl got a sunburn playing outside so outlandish? I saw the video, the parents said she got it while playing in the yard. It's also entirely possible a little girl would say "she went tanning with mommy" if she went into the salon and waited in the room. Was it stupid to bring her there? Yes. Should we assume the woman is guilty of child abuse? I don't think so. This wouldn't be national news if the mother didn't look the way she did.

May 03 12 - 11:56am
lilu

ditto.

May 03 12 - 5:31pm
M

I agree. While I don't think anyone should go tanning, much less bring their young daughter along to the salon, from what it looks like the girl may not have actually gone in the tanning bed. As someone who is incredibly fair-skinned, I can get sunburns from taking the garbage out. I don't think it's unreasonable that the burn was just from being outside after all.

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