Haleigh Cummings is Missing: Crystal Sheffield Allegations of Child Abuse a Distraction?

How is Investigating Allegations of Child Abuse a Distraction to the Investigation into Finding Haleigh Cummings?

Saul Relative
Saul Relative, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 19, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Crystal Sheffield, Haleigh Cummings' mother, appeared on HLN's "Nancy Grace" Wednesday evening and aired even more allegations that her ex-husband was not only abusive toward her but was also violent toward his two children, Haleigh and Ronald Cummings, Jr. Besides earlier charges that he mistreated his daughter, Crystal Sheffield is now claiming that Ronald Cummings has been physically abusive to both children.

Crystal Sheffield and her lawyer, Kim Picazio, told Nancy Grace that they had filed a complaint with Florida DCF (Department of Children and Families) against Ronald Cummings in light of knowledge that had come to the fore since Haleigh Cummings went missing. Given that Haleigh Cummings had been taken "right under their noses," they felt that little Ronald, Jr., was in harm's way.

Grace asked Sheffield why she had moved away from her children. After finding out that she lived an hour and a half from Satsuma, Nancy Grace became insistent. Crystal Sheffield said she had simply wanted to get as far away from Ronald Cummings as possible.

Crystal Sheffield had originally taken both children with her when she left Ronald Cummings. She said she had let Cummings take the children for a few days for a visit and he had kept them. Then he had sued her for custody and won.

Nancy Grace brought up the fact that Sheffield had not alleged in her several court appearances -- appeals -- that Cummings had been abusive toward the children. Picazio said that Sheffield had not been aware of the abuses that occurred since she left Cummings, which was in 2005. Sheffield only had knowledge of his physical abuse toward her and his drug use while they were married. She also alleged that Cummings forced drugs on her as well. She said that during court proceedings, she had been intimidated by Ronald Cummings glowering at her from across the courtroom.

Grace said she found it "unusual" that Sheffield would make these allegations, especially when she admits to not personally observing the abuse. Grace also wondered if it wasn't problematic for their case that Sheffield had a reputation as one who had filed false reports.

Picazio defended her client, stating that Sheffield had had no reason to say anything sooner, but eyewitnesses had been calling her offices about incidents of abuse since Haleigh Cummings went missing in early February. And she said she could not believe Nancy Grace was bringing up something that had nothing to do with the case.

But why were the children taken from Sheffield in the first place? It seems that Crystal Sheffield failed to appear in court several times. She did hot have a driver's license at the time of the first several court dates. She was unemployed. The judge saw Cummings' home as more stable and awarded him custody.

But now there seems to be photographic evidence of the abuse. Art Harris, an investigative journalist, asserted that he had photographs of the children with bruises, cuts, and scrapes. One picture shows Haleigh with a black eye.

One of Nancy Grace's guests, Marc Klaas, a child advocate, addressed Crystal Sheffield, telling her that she was going about her accusations in the wrong manner. He said she was distracting from the main message, which was finding her missing 5-year-old daughter, a distraction that Ronald Cummings reminds the press of constantly. He told her that she should be handling it in private, not in a public forum like national television.

But could Crystal Sheffield's ploy to take her case public simply be because she felt that two previous judges had let her down? Could it be a strategy that she and Kim Picazio developed to get increased scrutiny focused on a bad situation that she had little control over as a teenager and a young adult?

And there is something terribly disingenuous about statements that seem to say that there can only be one major focus at a time. Why? How is it that DCF cannot do their job of investigating the allegations of Crystal Sheffield while the various law organizations do their job of searching for the missing child? Why can't both go forward concurrently? Is it more important that Haleigh Cummings be found or Ronald Cummings, Jr. be taken from an allegedly abusive home?

To suggest that they are not linked may be premature. To say that they are not equally important is to deny Ronald Cummings, Jr., the protection he deserves, if he is in harm's way. But there is absolutely no reason why Crystal Sheffield's allegations cannot be investigated at the same time as the search continues for his sister.

It would seem that too many people equate public scrutiny with professional and legal scrutiny. That seems to be what is going on in this case. Public scrutiny in this case does not matter except as leverage. Professional and legal scrutiny is what matters.

And if the abuse and the Haleigh Cummings' disappearance are connected, the sooner they discover the connection, the sooner they may be able to find the missing child and the sooner they can prosecute any and all responsible. And the sooner they can remove the little boy from that home.

******

Source:

"Nancy Grace," HLN Television

Published by Saul Relative

WVU graduate, with degrees in History, English, Secondary Education, Computer Programming, and Psychology (and nearly a degree in Political Science). Originally from West Virginia, with stints in Virginia,...  View profile

23 Comments

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  • pallie1/10/2010

    The Department of Children and Families became aware of the allegations of drug use by Crystal. DCF requested a random toxicology test of Crystal Sheffield, during the course of their investigation, as they found it relevant to investigate Crystal's fitness as a parent. At that time, in June 2009, I learned from DCF that Crystal's infant daughter, Chloe, not even one (1) year of age, had been born with illegal narcotics in her system due to Crystal's drug use during her pregnancy. The DCF caseworker had not informed me of this DCF case against my client, and I had no prior knowledge of the case until that time. DCF dismissed the investigation against Ronald Cummings, without explanation.

    I felt as if I was only being told relevant information by the family, after a fiasco had occurred. I could not represent a client who was not being honest with me, and was taking illegal drugs. To make matters worse, In April 2009, Crystal admitted to me that she had taken unprescribed pain m

  • pau1/7/2010

    Crystal sheffield is a drug addict that puts her kids in the car and drives around and crashes. She gave birth to a baby that was on illegal drugs. Kim Picazio wrote all this to the court and it sounds to me like Kim Picazio thinks Crystal Sheffield or her mom took Haliegh Cummings

  • saul relative3/27/2009

    That is an amazing and troubling statistic, Jill. But given the nature of the relationship of control and submission, it is not difficult to see how this would become a truth.

  • Jill3/27/2009

    FACT:
    According to the American Judges Association
    Approximately 70% of batterers obtain sole or joint custody.
    Batterers succeed in convincing authorities that the non-offending parent is unfit or undeserving of sole custody.

    http://www.angelfury.org/

  • Charlene Collins3/22/2009

    Great article here.

  • Hope3/22/2009

    So Cummings married the girl he was committing statutory rape with.

    Yes, Florida is known for not protecting children. Leaving belt and stick marks on a child is NOT discipline as claimed but child abuse.

    Chystal moved an hour and a half away==so what==she was there for her children's visits etc.

    Nancy Grace is anti women and yet tries to act like she is so pro child. She has spent 9 months vilifying Casey Anthony to the point that it will be difficult for a fair trial and yet she has never mentioned that in those 9 months over 1100 children have been killed in the USA by their parents/caregivers.

    Give Crystal, Misty, Ronald and Casey a break and let the law do their job.

  • Protective Mother in Florida3/21/2009

    Crystal and Ronald are a classic textbook case of domestic violence. When she reached an age where he could no longer control her and she wanted freedom from abuse, he did the next natural thing to him - he stole the chidlren away from her.

    Her reaction (or lack of reaction) is a natural response for a mother who has had her children removed from her after trying to protect herself and quite possibly even her children. Florida DCF does NOT protect children and in fact insists that abusers be allowed unsupervised contact with them - but only if they are men.

    My ex and the father to our child has done unspeakable things to our child, things that had a stranger done this, they would be UNDER the jail, instead of just in it. Yet because he is the father, he is allowed pass after pass after pass. How much longer does abuse have to go one? Until someone is killed? Oh - no - because then we ohh and ahh and poo and poo over the poor victims and then we move on. It is time to stop

  • Anonymous3/20/2009

    the mother was never abused so she need to focus on the missing giral and tell what she knows about it because she knows. maybe her supporters are being or have been abused but she wasn't.

  • Anonymous3/20/2009

    If crystal.s lawyer is the brilliant person that nancy grace said she is, then she would have known that in most people when you hurt yourself such as a laceration or bump on the nose u are going to look a lot worse before u look better. so when haleigh wen to the hospital 6 days aftere the fall on the playground, chances were she was in the healing process. the mom is not completely innocent in this child's abduction. she pretends to cry yet no tears are there. i believed she went to that house and got haleigh and have an accomplice hiding her somewhere. notice she blamed "a black man" referring to what she claimed on little boy said. another susan smith? i think so. sutsuma police bring her back in for more questioning. she is the one. the new wife is not sophisticated or mature enough to pull this off

  • Jade Eyes3/20/2009

    Ok, even agreeing with everything you said, why not let DCF investigate in private. How is the investigation helped in any way by the mom and her attorney jumping in front of every camera that comes along and spreading
    unsubstantiated accusations all over national TV?

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