A couple from Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, has denied that they exposed their children to illegal drugs, but the Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court disagrees. Craig James Rearick, 36, and Krystal Diane Kus, 30, are each facing two felony accounts of endangering the welfare of a minor after the couple's 4- and 5-year-old children tested positive for cocaine.
The investigation began in June 2022 after a Westmoreland County Children's Bureau caseworker filed a complaint about white powder covering the family's home. After hair tests came back positive for drugs, the couple had bizarre conflicting stories, and now Kus is trying to defend herself on social media.
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A caseworker had multiple reasons for being concerned.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by TribLive, in addition to documenting seeing white powder in the home, the caseworker visited the house to investigate reports that the couple blew "crack smoke" into their children's faces while getting high.
The parents had conflicting stories when questioned about drug use in the home. Kus reportedly told police they kept crack away from their young children in a safe in the basement and only smoked in an upstairs bedroom, the news outlet reported. She did admit that her children would follow her around while she got high.
Rearick's report, however, differed completely. He said that the safe was upstairs and that he and his wife only smoked crack in the basement.
Kus claims she and Rearick are not the only drug users in the family.
Kus allegedly told police that her parents and grandparents exposed her children to crack. When police went to Kus' mother and her husband's home, the couple denied doing drugs and allowed police to search their home without a warrant.
Her parents claimed drugs were all over the couple's home and that the children were "doing much better" in a foster home, according to TribLive.
The couple posted a hefty bond.
Kus and Rearick were released from jail on a $50,000 unsecured bond on April 25, TribLive reported. They waived their rights to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec. A formal arraignment is scheduled for June 28, in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, where the couple will stand trial.
Kus claims she and her husband are innocent.
In a Facebook post, Kus refutes claims that she doesn't have custody of their children and asserts that nothing was intentional. In a second post, she claims not to care about "what anyone thinks they know." She has supporters who claim to love and support her along her "journey."
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Children who grow up around drugs are at higher risk of addiction, experts say.
It might not come as a surprise that children exposed to drugs and alcohol often associate those behaviors as normal, and some follow suit with addiction. Exposure and genetic factors play a role in the likelihood of a person growing up to be a drug or alcohol abuser, according to Valley Behavioral Health.
Growing up in a home with parental drug use can also cause a child to grow up with emotional and developmental delays. Valley Behavioral Health notes that they are also more likely to be abuse victims.
"Children who grow up in a home with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are three times more likely to suffer physical, sexual and emotional abuse," the organization asserts on its website. "Whether it is at the hands of a parent who is using drugs or alcohol or due to exposure to others who abuse them, kids whose parents abuse substances are at greater risk."
