Missing child's cousin sentenced to prison

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 28 (UPI) -- A teenage relative of Haleigh Cummings has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in a drug trafficking case involving the missing Florida child's father.

Hope Sykes, 18, was arrested in January after she was recorded selling an undercover officer 25 prescription pain pills, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union reports.

Also arrested in the case were Sykes's cousin and Haleigh's father Ronald Cummings, 26, and Misty Croslin, 18, who was with Haleigh the night she disappeared in February 2009.

Judge Terry LaRue said he ordered the minimum mandatory sentence because Sykes was selling drugs within weeks of being released from jail on an earlier drug charge.

Cummings was brought to the Putnam County Courthouse as a defense witness Tuesday but was not called.

He faces five counts of drug trafficking in the same case while Croslin has been slapped with eight counts.