news

How these TV presenter parents enabled their four-month-old baby to ingest cocaine.

Former television reporters in the US, Krystin and Somchai (Som) Lisaius, have pleaded guilty to endangering their baby after traces of cocaine were found in the four-month-old’s system.

The pair’s daughter was taken to hospital in Tucson, Arizona on May 15, after her eyes started “rolling into the back of her head” during breastfeeding.

It turned out she had ingested the drug through her mother’s breast milk, police say.

“At approximately one half hour after [breast feeding], she [Krystin] reports her child was very lethargic and difficult to keep awake,” the police report, obtained through Tucson Local Media, states. “She and her husband kept up attempts to stimulate [the child] and finally decided to take [her] to the Oro Valley Hospital, which is close to their home.”

 

At first, the couple refused to allow the hospital to conduct a blood test on their baby. They left the hospital with their daughter, against medical advice, but agreed to transfer her to Banner University Medical Center.

Cocaine was found in the child’s system after urine tests, and the couple admitted to using the drug while hosting a party the night before. Both parents tested positive for the drug.

A friend of the pair, Thomas, who is also godfather to their child, told police he was with Krysin and Som when they snorted the cocaine.

ADVERTISEMENT

The police report states:

“Thomas responded by saying, that being said, “I saw her (Krystin) do one line tops” on the master bathroom couter top. I asked Thomas if he saw Som doing any cocaine and he responded by saying, yah, that’s where I did mine with him (Som). […] Thomas also said he had never seen Krysin do cocaine before.”

The police conducted a search of the Lisaius’ household on the evening of May 16 and found several small clear baggies that had traces of a white substance inside them, the police report states. This substance later tested positive as cocaine. They also found a Hilton Honours card, with Krysin’s name on it, and a rolled up dollar note, both with a residue of the same white substance.

According to Tucson Local Media, Krystin claimed that she didn’t think the baby would be affected by the drug if she waited 12 hours to breast feed after snorting it herself.

The couple’s attorney told The Tucson Weekly that the child has since been put in the care of her grandmother, Krystin’s mother, by the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

Som, is a former crime reporter for KOLD News 13, and Krystin is a former news reporter for KGUN 9.

The Tucson Weekly reports the pair are facing two years in prison. They will be sentenced next month.