Cost, man hours not issue in search for toddler

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With agencies coming in from all over the region, including the Navy and the FBI, no one is raising an eyebrow when it comes to overtime and what it takes to find missing toddler Lonzie Barton.

Manpower is No. 1 in the search for the 21-month-old, who disappeared late Thursday night or early Friday morning while in the care of his mother's boyfriend, Ruben Ebron, who is now considered a suspect in the boy's disappearance.

Each agency involved in the recovery effort brings a different skill set. It's part of the statewide agreement between agencies to lend mutual aid to help in cases like this.

Deputies from neighboring sheriff offices and officers from police departments rolled out from the command post Thursday to search wooded areas around Jacksonville's Northside.

The Navy also sent 75 personnel to help with the search.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief of Investigations Tom Hackney said those personnel have security clearances and backgrounds that can help in the investigation.

"They were standing there tall, ready to do what they could do," Hackney said.

Five deputies from the Clay County special victims unit who have expertise in finding missing people also joined in the search, along with six members of the Baker County Sheriff's Office.

All these volunteers raise the question of who will foot the bill for the manpower hours when the search is over.

"Right now, it's a mutual aid agreement that we all have when we send people. JSO never billed our agency for what they did for us. They have not billed us, and we would never bill," Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson said.

JSO officers helped search for and find missing Baker County 8-year-old Peyton Blodgett in October.

Deputies from Nassau County are assisting, along with ATV units from Neptune Beach and six detectives from St. Johns County.

"All the sheriffs of Florida enter into an agreement called mutual aid. What's beneficial about that is no agency can have all of the manpower and all of the equipment that they need on any given case at any given time," St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. "So we rely on other agencies to backfill dollars, so that saves a lot of taxpayer dollars in the end."

Dobson said the longer the search goes the more likely his office will have to tap into overtime and bring in off-duty deputies to help, but right now, none of the agencies involved in the search is concerned with the cost. They just want to find little Lonzie.

"We don't bill them," Mulligan said. "We believe it's part of our duty. It's a public service."
As the search heads into its second week, support continues to pour in from across the city and state.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said he's spoken to some of the people out in the field and it's heartbreaking to know what they're going through.

"This is a loving, caring city. People in Jacksonville get together when there is a need," Curry said. "The Sheriff's Office is doing a tremendous job. I have been in touch with the sheriff and the undersheriff. I have met some of the folks doing the work. The city is pulling together and praying together."

There is money in the city budget for emergency situations, but Curry said that will be discussed after the search is over. So far, no request has come from the sheriff's office to the mayor or City Council for more funding. 

The agencies who have been working to find Lonzie include: