Cops: Mom Nursed Baby 12 Hours After Using Cocaine

'These are excellent parents,' says lawyer of ex-reporters whose daughter tested positive
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2016 9:00 AM CDT
Cops: Mom Nursed Baby 12 Hours After Using Cocaine
Krystin and Somchai Lisaius.   (Twitter)

An Arizona couple has gone from reporting the news to becoming the news after their 4-month-old baby tested positive for cocaine. Oro Valley police say former Tucson TV reporters Krystin and Somchai Lisaius took their baby to a hospital on May 15 as she was "unable to wake up" and her "eyes were rolling," per Tucson Weekly. The couple refused a blood test, then left against medical advice, according to a police report. They later agreed to take the child to another hospital, where they again denied a blood test, police say. A urine test, however, tested positive for cocaine, reports People. Police say Krystin, 26, later admitted to breastfeeding the child 12 hours after using cocaine but said she didn't believe the child would be affected. Somchai, 42, also admitted to using cocaine about once every six weeks, police say.

A search of the couple's home turned up drug paraphernalia and cocaine, police say. Both parents were indicted June 9 on felony charges of child abuse and drug possession and pleaded not guilty on Monday, per KVOA. The child was released into the care of a grandmother after a few days in the hospital. Krystin is allowed unlimited access while Somchai can visit for up to 12 hours a day, reports Tucson News Now. "The facts are that these are excellent parents, the child was well taken care of, the child was never harmed and is responding beautifully," the couple's lawyer says. "It would be a gross, gross injustice [with] even the mention of prison time," he adds. "I anticipate they will demonstrate that they have learned a very hard, embarrassing lesson and that this will become a footnote in their life, not a chapter." (More Arizona stories.)

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