These are unedited reporters notes from Mr. Hart 

TJ HART’S REPORTER’S NOTES 5/5/2009
We are about to enter the third  month since Haleigh Cummings was taken from her Satsuma, FL home on Februrary 10, 2009.  Law enforcement appears to no closer to finding her now than they were then. If they are closer, they are holding their cards close to the vest.

What private investigators have been able to uncover is a set of relationships pertaining to Haliegh’s stepmother, Misty Cummings. Misty was the last person to see Haleigh before she was snatched from their home in the middle of the night.

The exposure of those relationships involving drugs and sex appear to have touched a few nerves in Putnam County. All the arrests, the bondings, the revocations of bond, and in one case, the actual begging and pleading to return to jail last Friday by Amber Brooks (one of  the characters in the mix) is enough to make your head spin. 

Is somebody’s hiding something?

The humiliation the community has endured recently due to the exposure of such behaviors by some of the locals has been somewhat blamed on private investigator/bondsman/surety agent William “Cobra” Staubs.

Some say he does not have the authority to make arrests. Those people haven’t read his license signed by Florida State CFO Alex Sink that states: “holder of this license has the power to arrest as authorized by sec 903.22 and 903.29 of the Florida statutes Taylor v Taintor 83 US 366 (1872) .

What really must be a thorn in someone’s side is that I was able to videotape a person being brought out of a local apartment that is reportedly used for prostitution and drugs and it appeared on national television.

Young women seeking a place to stay there are often given accomodations at that place as long as they surrender all their clothes and perform enough sex acts to pay for their stay, according to one of the former “escaped” prostitutes.

And what’s with the local criminals deciding they can call their own shots and make demands to be re-arrested, taken to jail and get released on another bail bond because they feel they get a better deal from a competing bondsman? 

Oh, yes, Haleigh. While Staubs is trying to uncover leads, provide possible suspects and is actually out here searching for the girl, some of the locals are grousing because all of these elements in their community have been exposed.

Area bondsmen are annoyed that Staubs appears to be upsetting the natural order of things in that rural area. 

I am checking on information provided to me that alleges one ex-local bondsman making some of the complaints is registered sex offender. 

Another is reported to be engaged in a legal matter with a county clerk.

Gee! What if any of that is true?

When the local armchair experts ever decide to provide some actionable leads and possible suspects, they might gain some traction on getting some genuine credibility. But remember, it is much easier to run one’s mouth as a back-bencher than it is to actually show some spine and get in the game.

Showing some spine, you see, takes demonstrable courage. Complaining is simply your first amendment right

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