MACCLENNY, Fla. -- Chris and Lonna Barton, the parents of missing toddler Lonzie Barton, were arrested on felony drug charges after selling drugs to undercover cops Tuesday and Wednesday, the Baker County Sheriff's Office announced at a news conference late Wednesday night.
The Bartons had been under surveillance by authorities for weeks, Sheriff Joey Dobson told reporters just moments after the Bartons and a third suspect could be seen being escorted in handcuffs into the Baker County Jail. Both had been "under the eyes of narcotics investigators with the [Sheriff's Office] for almost a month," Dobson said.
Chris and Lonna Barton appeared before a judge in Baker County Court on a list of drug charges about 9:15 a.m. Thursday.
A judge set Chris Barton's bond at $950,000 and Lonna Barton's bond was set at $700,000.
"This is not about the Lonzie case," said the sheriff, who told reporters that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office had not been involved in the drug investigation.
The pair and a third suspect were arrested separately after multiple drug deals -- two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday -- involving undercover deputies at the Motel 6 off State Road 121 in Macclenny, Sheriff Dobson told reporters.
"That was just where the drug transactions took place," said Dobson, who declined to speculate about whether Chris Barton had bonded Lonna out of the Duval County Jail with drug money.
Chris Arin Barton, 42, Lonna Lauramore Barton, 25, and Shawn Clayton Hall, 32, face charges of sale of Molly -- a club drug made of a variety of chemicals -- within 1,000 feet of a specific location, possession of Molly and possession of drug paraphernalia along with the sale, delivery or manufacture of those drugs, according to their arrest reports. The sheriff said that Chris Barton is also charged with the sale and possession of opiates.
First Coast News confirmed that Lonna Barton faces a total of six charges while Chris faces eight charges.
The report also revealed a confidential informant recorded on camera Lonna Barton injecting drugs using a syringe with her husband assisting.
Lonna Barton was "surprised" when deputies arrested her at the motel, he added. She requested legal counsel and was not questioned, the report said.
Chris Barton was arrested on the road after leaving the same motel, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Their son, 21-month-old Lonzie, disappeared in July from a Jacksonville apartment complex. Since then, the search for the child has turned into what the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is calling a murder investigation.
Lonna Barton had been previously arrested by JSO on charges of child neglect and giving false information to law enforcement, but had since been bonded out by Chris Barton.
At the request of the State Attorney's Office, Chris and Lonna Barton underwent drug testing Wednesday at the Duval County Courthouse.
JSO was not involved in the couple's arrest Wednesday night, Dobson said.
The couple had been in court discussing a custody plan for their 5-year-old daughter, who remains in the custody of her grandmother but is allowed supervised visits with her parents.
A status hearing had been set for those proceedings for Oct. 28.
Lonzie was reported missing by Lonna's boyfriend, William "Ruben" Ebron, 32, on July 24. Police have said Ebron, who remains in custody at the Duval County Jail on a list of charges unrelated to Lonzie's disappearance, knows where Lonzie is and have called for him to divulge the toddler's whereabouts.
Ebron, who was arrested the day the toddler went missing, had been in custody initially on charges of child neglect. Later, he was charged with giving false information to law enforcement after video surfaced that police suggest discredits his story about Lonzie's disappearance. After allegedly concocting a plot to escape from custody, he was also charged with attempted escape from a jail, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of a concealed handcuff key, and smuggling contraband into a detention facility, all felonies.
Ebron has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
