A high profile, married TV reporter couple have escaped a jail term after exposing their baby to cocaine, via the mother’s breast milk.
Krystin Rae Lisaius, 26, and husband Somchai Lisaius, 42, who formerly worked on a US TV station before the scandal, created outrage earlier this year when it was revealed that their baby was taken to the hospital after she became limp, unresponsive and ‘rag doll-like’, with her eyes ‘rolling into the back of the head’ following her parents’ cocaine partying the night before.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, one detective wrote in a report: ‘It should be noted that at no time according to the report did either parent tell the hospital staff about the mother’s cocaine use the night before and Krystin continued to breast feed while at the hospital.’
It emerged that Krystin has breast fed the child 12 hours after ingesting the illegal drug.
While their TV careers will likely never recover, the pair escaped time in the slammer – something they had expressed great fears about – instead they were sentenced to a year of probation and suspended 30-day jail terms. The couple pleaded guilty to child endangerment.
The couple’s lawyer, Mike Piccarreta, told the judge: ‘They’ve been going through regular drug testing. They’ve been going through parenting classes/ They have gone through counselling. … Anytime anyone even hints they want something done, they step up and do it.’
He had earlier said of the incident, ‘What you have is a recreational use event by a very, very nice couple who never dreamed that 12 hours later the substance would be in the system, and that was a mistake.’