The Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court rejects a couple’s denial that they introduced their kids to illicit substances in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. The couple’s 4- and 5-year-old children tested positive for cocaine, and Craig James Rearick, 36, and Krystal Diane Kus, 30, are each charged with two felonies for endangering the welfare of a minor.
After a caseworker for the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau complained about white powder covering the family’s home in June 2022, the investigation got underway. The pair had very contradictory accounts after hair tests revealed drug use, and now Kus is making an online defense of herself.
According to a criminal complaint acquired by TribLive, the caseworker visited the residence to look into claims that the couple blew “crack smoke” into their kids’ faces while high in addition to noting the presence of white powder there.
When asked about drug usage in the family, the parents’ accounts varied. According to the news source, Kus allegedly told authorities they only smoked in an upstairs bedroom and stored crack out of the reach of their small children in a safe in the basement. She did acknowledge that when she was high, her kids would follow her around. But Rearick’s report was entirely different. He said that only he and his wife smoked crack and that the safe was located upstairs.
According to police reports, Kus said that her parents and grandparents gave her children crack. When police arrived at Kus’ mother and her husband’s house, the pair denied using narcotics while allowing a warrantless search of their residence. According to TribLive, her parents said there were narcotics all throughout the couple’s house and that the kids were “doing much better” in foster care.
On April 25, TribLive reported that Kus and Rearick had been freed from custody after posting a $50,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec was forfeited by them. The pair will go on trial in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, and a formal arraignment is expected on June 28.
Kus disputes assertions that she doesn’t have custody of their children in a Facebook post and insists that nothing was done intentionally. In a subsequent piece, she asserts that she is unconcerned with “what anyone thinks they know.” She has a following that affirms their love and support for her throughout her “journey.”
It shouldn’t surprise anybody that kids who are exposed to drugs and alcohol often mistake such behaviors for normal behavior, and some of them go on to develop addictions. According to Valley Behavioral Health, both hereditary and environmental variables affect a person’s propensity to become a drug or alcohol addict as they age.
A kid may have emotional and developmental impairments if they grow up in a household where the parents use drugs. They are also more prone to become victims of abuse, according to Valley Behavioral Health.
According to the organization’s website, children who live with parents who are dependent on drugs or alcohol are three times more likely to experience physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. “Kids whose parents abuse substances are at greater risk, whether it be at the hands of a parent who is using drugs or alcohol or due to exposure to others who abuse them.”