PALATKA, Fla. – Over recent months, the parents of Misty Cummings and Hank Croslin Jr. have been seen on videotape visiting their children in the Putnam County Jail. Friday night, Hank Croslin Sr. and Lisa Croslin were also arrested, each on one count of purchasing cocaine and parole violations.
Putnam County deputies said the two were among 15 people arrested during a neighborhood drug sting. According to the arrest reports, Lisa and Hank Croslin Sr. went to a known drug house and Hank Sr. went inside and made a $20 purchase. Deputies said they were stopped about a block away and arrested.
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"The officer ran a reverse drug sale operation. The officer posing as a drug dealer stood by and waited for the person to come in the area looking to buy drugs," Palatka Assistant Police Chief James Griffith said.
Police said before the Croslins' vehicle was stopped, Hank Sr. threw the cocaine out the window.
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Rodney Graham, who said he's friends with Hank Sr., said police lured him in, knowing that he has always battled with substance abuse addiction.
"He was entrapped. He came here because he worked for me," Graham said. "When he came here, the officer offered him crack and he took it."
The Croslins were being held at the Putnam County Jail without bond.
The case is prominent because Misty was briefly married to Ronald Cummings and she was the last person to see 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings before she disappeared in February 2009.
Ronald Cummings, Misty and Hank Croslin Jr. and several others were arrested in January after an undercover drug sting. Prosecutors have released video they said shows Haleigh's father, his ex-wife and four others selling cocaine.
Hank Croslin Jr. has pleaded no contest and is awaiting sentencing. Ronald Cummings has a tentative plea agreement on charges against him and is due back in court next month.
Both may be asked to testify against Misty Cummings.
Authorities said none of the drug charges has any connection to the ongoing investigation of Haleigh's disappearance, which they now consider a homicide case.