Only in New Jersey can you become an action figure by sitting in a tanning salon.
A Connecticut company is selling a doll modeled after Patricia Krentcil, who became a media celebrity after she was charged with allowing her then-5-year-old daughter, Anna, to sit under ultraviolet lights.
Emil Vicale, president of HeroBuilders, said everyone has friends into tanning “and we thought it was a very funny thing to do.’’
The figure, blond with an orange face, sells for $29.95.
The “tanorexic’’ Krentcil did not respond last night to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, child-protective-services workers have visited the Krentcil family twice since Friday.
“They asked us some questions and they are doing their investigation and they told us not to say anything,” said her husband, Richard.
He insisted that New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services case workers “never questioned’’ his now-6-year-old daughter.
He also said there were no indications that the state planed to take his daughter into protective custody.
In another development, Krentcil’s lawyer said her client “is a is a victim of tannism, like racism.”
The lawyer, Natalia Diaz, said “people are just going after her because of the way she looks. Some people like to tan.
“This is a personal choice.”
Diaz added the little girl’s sunburn came the old fashioned way — from playing outdoors in the sun.