Are laws applied differently when it comes to different professions? How about when it comes to race? These are hard questions and even ugly questions, especially when it applies to the ethical problems we all face in America. But this is an issue of child endangerment at least, to begin with. But will go much deeper I promise.
We need to detail the case of Somchai and Krystin Lisaius, who were recently sentenced to one year’s probation. Somchai and Krystin were “beautiful people.” They were on-air personalities for two different Tucson TV stations. That was their public life, but behind the scenes – well with little thought child endangerment was in their future.
By outward appearance, the young couple had it all: good looks, money, a new marriage, and a beautiful, four-month-old baby girl. Appearances, however, cannot compensate for stupidity.
On May 15, 2016, the baby was rushed to the hospital after going into a kind of seizure. The baby became unresponsive. The baby’s eyes were “rolling” toward the back of her head. The story of child endangerment is now unfolding.
Any parent would be concerned, but the couple had a secret they kept from law enforcement. They are cocaine users. I am not here to talk about cocaine, the drug of choice for the rich, but it does make me wonder about their choices. She is 26 and he is 42; they were snorting (lovely image) cocaine with friends the night before.
Krystin is still breastfeeding her daughter, but that fact “apparently” escaped mention when the police came to the house. I bring this fact to light, because the pediatricians in trying to understand what was wrong with the little girl, had to run blood work. They found traces of cocaine in the baby. The baby was “high.” Hum…forget or just elected to not reveal since that would have been a clear clue that their choices were the foundation for child endangerment.
The mother did not think there would be any cocaine in her breast milk after 12 hours. That was her defense. I might add that it was seemingly more important for them to keep the cocaine usage from the physicians and police than to help them understand what was affecting the baby.
When the police came to their home with a search warrant, the officers found 1.59 grams of cocaine. They had obviously “used” before, maybe many times before.
On August 31, 2016, the beautiful people pleaded guilty to child endangerment. They received probation and suspended jail terms. The charges of child abuse and drug possession were dropped due to a plea deal.
Both were terminated from their jobs. They baby is under the care of her grandmother after child welfare got involved. The mother is allowed to see the child 24 hours a day, the father may only see the child 12 hours a day. In a sense, the family has been split apart. Every choice has a consequence and in this case, the choice to use drugs and create a child endangerment situation has created long-term consequences that they never likely saw coming.
So in summary, they have temporarily lost the rights to be the guardian for their child, they have lost their jobs, their reputations and they now have police records.
Questions and ethical concerns emerge
There are deeply serious questions at play here. The first, is if they were let off the hook because they were in the media. Somchai was an investigative reporter and Krystin was a former model and popular on-air personality. She was constantly posting pictures of her happy family, and the adoring public was all too happy to wish they could be “just like her.” OK…Facebook and other forms of social media are easy to manipulate – to create an illusion that all is well when that may be far from the truth.
Media carries a lot of weight in our society. Sometimes, way too much weight. I could not help but wonder what might have happened had Somchai been a handyman and Krystin an administrative assistant? Suppose they weren’t beautiful people, but plain looking?
Suppose they were of different races? It is an issue that talks to how justice is applied in this country based on skin color. It is an ethical issue, and goes to the ethical core of our society. It is all too often easy to dismiss these arguments because we may not want to touch on uncomfortable areas, but the arguments are still valid and relevant.
Were the happy couple closet drug abusers? We don’t know. What we do know is that had they been dealing drugs, rather than possession of them, the police could have locked them up for two years plus a hefty fine for the amount in their home.
One thing seems clear: the parents made an unethical choice. The mother may have plead ignorance about the duration of time that cocaine stays in breast milk, but surely she must have known it was a possibility. Wonder if she’d have been asked – if child endangerment is a possible outcome of your cocaine use would you continue to make that choice? Bet her answer would have been NO!
Krystin Lisaius is in the media and she is very computer savvy. A one-minute on-line search would have made her instantly aware of the dangers. Instead she withheld such knowledge from authorities. Withheld – why? Hiding child endangerment is yet another stupid decision made by this couple.
The most unethical choice of the parents was that they placed their self-serving lives ahead of their child’s life. They are not beautiful people, they are “posers.” They were perhaps “lucky” in one sense, but their consequences will last for years.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
When you bring a child into this world you are totally responsible and need to accept
such responsibility until that child is able to make their own decisions. Some children are very grown-up at the age of 18 and sometimes it takes until they’re 35 as many of us well know. Thank goodness that this child has a grandmother