A deeply tanned New Jersey mother accused of causing skin burns to her young daughter by taking her into a tanning booth pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a child endangerment charge, and the tanning salon's owner appeared to corroborate her story. 
 
 Patricia Krentcil, 44, center, walks out of Essex County Superior Court with her lawyer John Caruso, right, after court appearance on charges of child endangerment, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Reporters talk to Patricia Krentcil, 44, center right, as she walks out of Essex County Superior Court after court appearance on charges of child endangerment, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J. ... (Associated Press) 
 
 Patricia Krentcil, 44, walks out of Essex County Superior Court after court appearance on charges of child endangerment, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J. Krentcil is accused of taking her 5-year-old... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photograph of Patricia Krentcil was released by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J. Krentcil, of Nutley, N.J., whose own skin is deeply bronze-colored from... (Associated Press) 
 
 Patricia Krentcil, 44, waits to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J., where she appeared on charges of endangering her 5-year-old child by taking her... (Associated Press) 
 
 Patricia Krentcil, 44, left, stands with her lawyer John Caruso during a court appearance on charges of child endangerment at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J. Krentcil... (Associated Press) 
 
 Patricia Krentcil faces a second-degree child endangerment charge. Through her attorney, she pleaded not guilty in Newark Municipal Court on Wednesday morning. Krentcil is free on $2,500 cash bond. 
 
 Before Wednesday's court hearing, Krentcil, whose skin has a deep bronze color from regular visits to the tanning salon, called the accusation a lie. 
 
 "It's all made up," she said. 
 
 She told The Associated Press her daughter, who was 5 at the time of the alleged incident in mid-April and has since turned 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, who only identified himself as Anthony, said employees who were there on the day in question told him the girl remained outside with her father and brother and didn't go into the tanning booth while Krentcil was inside. 
 
 He said a sign is posted in the salon that refers to New Jersey state law barring anyone under 14 from using a tanning salon. 
 
 "I would never harm a child," he said. "I have seven kids of my own. It's just ridiculous." 
 
 Krentcil's attorney, John Caruso, said outside court that she will be exonerated, because the evidence will show the child never entered the booth. 
 
 "Forget about the presumption of innocence; my client is 150 percent innocent," Caruso said. "She loves that child more than her whole life. She would never, ever allow her child to go inside a tanning bed." 
 
 Police in Nutley told The Nutley Sun newspaper 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 with her mother, Caruso told Municipal Court Judge Roslyn Holmes-Grant, though he said the state's child welfare agency is monitoring the family. 
 
 Krentcil said she loves tanning and has visited salons for many years but would not do anything to jeopardize her daughter's health. 
 
 "Never in my life would I endanger my child by putting her in a tanning booth. I'm not dumb," she said before her scheduled hearing. Outside court, she called herself "a wonderful mother." 
 
 According to court records, Krentcil was found guilty of theft by deception in Camden County in 2000 and ordered to pay more than $4,000 in restitution. She also has had more than a dozen civil judgments and liens filed against her in New Jersey and Illinois, where she lived in the 1990s. 
 
 Krentcil remained free on a $2,500 cash bond. She is scheduled to make her next court appearance June 4. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow David Porter at http://www.twitter.com/DavidPorter_AP 

 Julio Cortez/AP Patricia Krentcil, 44, waits to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J., where she appeared on charges of endangering her 5-year-old child by taking her into a tanning salon. 
 
 In all my years of treating patients as a dermatologist, I have never encountered anything like this. 
 
 Going to a tanning salon 20 times a month, frankly, is insane, especially with all of the public education and awareness campaigns on the dangers of tanning beds and skin cancers. 
 
 It may be she has an addiction to tanning, which actually now has a name — tanorexia. She may need help to treat not only the damage to her skin, but also what is going on with her psychologically. 
 
 KEEP YOUR SKIN SAFE 
 
 Patricia Krentcil, 44, waits to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J., where she appeared on charges of endangering her 5-year-old child by taking her into a tanning salon. 
 
 A lot of these people may also suffer from body dysmorphic disorders, where they look at themselves in the mirror and are always unhappy with their appearance. Patients like this are constantly having elective cosmetic procedures — either surgeries, laser treatments or Botox and fillers. 
 
 Patients who feel they need to have tan skin may fall under this category as well. 
 
 Going to a tanning salon even just one time is dangerous. Tanning booths are considered a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization. This is the same category that plutonium is put in! 
 
 Dr. Joshua Zeichner is the director of cosmetic and clinical research in the dermatology department at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
– The New Jersey woman accused of bringing her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth is, in the diplomatic words of AP, "deeply tanned." A dermatologist writing in the Daily News isn't so diplomatic about Patricia Krentcil's appearance. "In all my years of treating patients as a dermatologist, I have never encountered anything like this," writes Dr. Joshua Zeichner (who doesn't treat Krentcil). He suspects she suffers from "tanorexia," or an addiction to tanning. Given all that is known about the dangers of tanning, her 20-days-a-month habit "is insane," he adds. ABC News quotes another dermatologist who also diagnoses tanorexia from afar (spelled this time as "tanerexia"), in which people "just don't realize just how much color they have." Krentcil denies bringing her daughter into a booth, and the tanning salon's owner backs her up in an interview with the local Nutley Sun. He also suspect's that Krentcil's even darker appearance in TV interviews, after her court appearance, is probably the result of her applying a self-tanning product. For now, Krentcil is claiming she's the victim of a witch hunt, TMZ reports.