Krystin Lisaius and her husband Somchai P. Lisaius, both former television reporters, are facing charges in Arizona after their 4-month-old child tested positive for cocaine.
Oro Valley Police said in a report that the couple took their child to the Oro Valley Hospital May 15 saying that she "became limp" and was "unable to wake up,"
reported the Tucson Weekly. The couple refused to let hospital personnel draw blood from the child and left.
The couple subsequently agreed to let the child to be treated at Banner-University Medical Center, and the infant was later transferred to the Diamond Children's Hospital, police stated. A urinalysis and a toxicology screen done on the child by Banner-UMC staff in front of Office of Child Welfare Investigations and the Department of Child Safety detected cocaine in the child's system.
The police report stated, according to Tucson News Now, that the couple admitted to using cocaine at their home during a party on May 14. Krystin Lisaius told police that she breastfed the child 12 hours after the drug was used.
Authorities told Tucson News Now that both entered not guilty pleas in court Monday and were released on their own recognizances. Somchai Lisaius is a former crime reporter at KOLD-TV and his wife is a former reporter at the same television station.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that the couple was charged with three felonies each: child abuse to a person under 18 years of age causing death or serious physical injury, possession of a narcotic drug, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said they allegedly discovered less than two grams of a "white powder or white residue" and other paraphernalia at the couple's home.
"It would be a gross, gross injustice [with] even the mention of prison time," said Michael Piccarreta, the couple's attorney. "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."
Tucson Weekly wrote that the child is now in the custody of the Department of Child Safety.
The couple met in 2012 when Krystin Lisaius began working as an intern at KOLD-TV, stated the Tucson Weekly. Krystin Lisaius had worked at station KGUN-TV two years ago, Jim Arnold, general manager at the station, told the Daily Star.
The couple is scheduled to appear in court again on July 28.
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