Ex-TV reporters charged after baby tests positive for cocaine

A former beauty queen and TV News personality in Arizona is facing child abuse charges after she breastfed her 4-month-old baby just hours after doing cocaine, leaving her child lethargic, unresponsive and in a “rag doll” like state, police papers show.

Krystin Rae Lisaius, 26, a former reporter of the ABC affiliate KGUN 9, admitted to police officers that she snorted cocaine on the evening of May 14 with her husband Somchai Lisaius, 42, then breastfed her child about 12 hours later.

Somchai is also a former TV reporter, most recently working at Tucson News Now.

The two met when Krystin was an intern at the station, KTLA reported.

The Tucson couple had attended a gathering early in the day on May 14 and returned to their home later for an after-party. They invited their best friend identified as “Thomas” in court papers over to their house along with his wife. Thomas admitted to police he did coke with the TV-couple and he witnessed Krystin “do one line on the master bathroom counter top… through a rolled up receipt,” shortly after putting her infant child to sleep.

The next morning Krystin she breastfed the baby around 8am. Thirty minutes later, the baby’s eyes were rolling back into its head, it wouldn’t wake up and was very lethargic, she told police and staff at Oro Valley Hospital. Medical staff told her the symptoms could be life threatening and they needed to conduct a blood test but the young mother refused. She took the child from the hospital against medical advice and later brought her baby by ambulance to Banner Medical Center.

When the couple arrived at the second hospital with the sick child, court papers say they refused a blood test again against the medical advice of hospital staff. Hospital staff was finally able to conduct a urinalysis on the child who tested positive for cocaine.

‘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.’

 - Michael Piccarreta, attorney

Social workers and police interviewed the couple separately and they both initially denied doing any cocaine. Krystin finally admitted to police she had ingested the drugs the night before but didn’t think “the baby would be affected after approximately 12 hours,” court papers show.

The National Institute of Health says women who use cocaine periodically while breastfeeding should wait a minimum of 24 hours after doing the drug before breastfeeding to ensure the drug is entirely out of the system. Medical professionals say it takes between two and five days for cocaine to completely leave the system all together.

When police searched the couple’s home, they found cocaine residue on the master bathroom counter top, a green Tiffany’s box with a rolled up dollar bill inside with white residue and a Hilton Honors rewards card with Krystin’s name on it that also had white residue on it. Cops also found multiple plastic bags with white residue in them in the couple’s home office and a bag containing approximately 1.58 grams of cocaine, worth about $100 on the street.

The two former TV reporters, who ironically covered crime, were indicted on June 9 on three felony charges: possession of a dangerous drug, drug paraphernalia and child abuse. They plead not guilty and were released on their own recognizance on Monday.

Krystin’s mother has custody of the child but Krystin was granted 24/7 contact with it, while Somchai was granted 12 hours of contact a day, according to KAUZ.

The couple’s attorney Michael Piccarreta told KAUZ any mention of prison time would be a “gross, gross injustice.”

“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,” Piccarreta said.

The couple could not be reached for comment.