Croslin faces new drug charges

NO PHOTO ATTACHED-Caption 2- Hope Sykes appears at the Putnam County courthouse for her arraignment on drug trafficking charges Thursday in Palatka. Photos by Will Dickey, Morris News Service

PALATKA -- As Misty Croslin stood before a judge in shackles and chains Thursday to face seven drug trafficking charges, a California bounty hunter was offering her a way out of jail in an exchange of information.

In addition to being jailed on drug charges, Croslin, 18, is a central figure in the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings, a 5-year-old who has been missing from her home in Putnam County for more than a year.

Before Croslin went to her arraignment, the bail that stood between her and freedom was about $1.3 million. In Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla said he was willing to pay a bond he estimated at $135,000 to get her out.

The deal has a caveat.

"It's got to bear fruit," he said. "It's got to lead me to HaLeigh."

Padilla is best known in Florida for bailing out Casey Anthony in 2008.

Anthony was charged with killing her young daughter in Central Florida.

Croslin's attorney, Robert Fields, has written Padilla a letter to back off.

Fields said Padilla wants to question Croslin, then decide if he will arrange a bond.

"If he likes the answers, he will bail her out," he said. "It's a license to interrogate."

In conversations with her parents, Croslin has asked that they maintain contact with Padilla, who came to southern Putnam County when HaLeigh disappeared.

Fields said Croslin has changed her mind.

"Hearing his [Padilla's] conditions she doesn't want to do it," he said.

Fields said he would be willing to accept help with her bail if the offer came with no strings attached.

Padilla said he does not believe Croslin was asleep, as she said she was, when HaLeigh disappeared.

"I'm not going to believe that," he said.

Padilla said he also has been helping Croslin's parents and bought a 2001 Ford Taurus for her father, who is not working and says notoriety from HaLeigh's case has kept him from getting a job.

Padilla said he also gave Hank Croslin money to meet expenses.

"I don't believe she's told the cops what happened," Padilla said.

Croslin was arraigned on seven charges of trafficking Thursday and was brought to the courtroom in a blue jail uniform and with cornrows in her hair. Two of the charges were new and could increase the bail. She faces an additional trafficking charge in St. Johns County.

Croslin was charged following an undercover narcotics investigation that ended with five arrests, including her former husband, Ronald Cummings, who is HaLeigh's father.

She was babysitting HaLeigh, and Cummings' son, Ronald Jr., when the 5-year-old girl disappeared just more than a year ago.

Thursday, she conferred quietly with her attorney before Circuit Judge Terry LaRue read the charges to her. She looked somber during the appearance, wearing waist chains and handcuffs. Investigators from HaLeigh's case stood in the back of the courtroom during the hearing.

Hope Sykes, 18, a co-defendant in the drug case, was also arraigned in the Putnam court on one count of trafficking.

Cummings and co-defendants Hank Croslin Jr. and Donna Michelle Brock, 44, skipped arraignment hearings and instead filed written pleas of not guilty and asked for jury trials.

Fields told LaRue he has filed similar not-guilty pleas in the five initial charges facing his client and intends to do so in the remaining two Putnam cases.

In another twist Thursday, Croslin's mother, Lisa, was arrested on a warrant as she left the courthouse following an earlier hearing. The charge stems from an incident at the Palatka Walmart around Christmas, Hank Croslin Sr. said of his wife.

Lisa Croslin is charged with grand theft after a purse was reported stolen to the Palatka Police Department, authorities said. She was released on bail later in the day, according to Putnam County Sheriff's Office jail records.

Misty Croslin's next Putnam County court appearance is March 31.

Investigators who made the arrests on Jan. 20 did so following a monthlong investigation in which undercover officers used vehicles equipped with audio and image recording devices, according to the arrest reports.

One undercover agent bought drugs several times and then offered to sell the pills before the arrests were made. The deals involved a total of 330 pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone at an estimated street value of $3,900.

Misty Croslin faces eight counts of trafficking in prescription drugs, including the single charge in St. Johns County. Her arraignment in that case is March 8.

Ronald Cummings, 26, faces five counts. Croslin's brother, her friend Brock and Sykes, a cousin, each face one count of trafficking.

Following the arrests last month, investigators said they would take the opportunity to question those charged about HaLeigh's case.