Art Harris publishes fake photographs of HaLeigh

Art Harris publishes fake photographs of HaLeigh Cummings

CNN correspondent ignores warning to cease and desist exploiting the missing five year-old

July 1, 2009

by Timothy Charles Holmseth

Art Harris, who sometimes appears on CNN, has published a photo on his website that has been deemed fake by a Photoshop expert. Also published by Harris are new photos that reveal the source used for portions of another fake photo.

Elvin Thomas, a Photoshop expert and instructor with 18 years of experience with the program said an earlier photo of Crystal Sheffield and her two children was fake.

On June 30, 2009, Harris published a new photo that shows only Sheffield and Ronald Cummings Jr. without HaLeigh Cummings in the picture. Another new photo he also published shows just HaLeigh and Ronald Jr.

The cutline describing the new photo of Sheffield with just her son says the photo was taken by Crystal Sheffield’s mother, Marie Griffis. The caption below the photo of Sheffield with both children reads: “A photo of Crystal Sheffield with Haleigh and Ronald she says was taken moments before the one below.” The one "below" refers to the photo of Sheffield with just the little boy.

This information published by Harris cannot be true.

Rebecca Thomas, child advocate, West Palm Peach, Fl reviewed the photo with Timothy Holmseth, owner, Write Into Action, shortly after Harris published it. Thomas said if you look close at the side of the little boy’s head in the photo showing just the two children, you can see it appears doctored around the little boy’s ears and eye. Holmseth then realized that was the 'source' of the boy in the other new photo published by Harris.

Harris had recently personally vouched for the integrity of the photo that shows Crystal Sheffield with her arm around missing child HaLeigh Cummings. The photo was posted on Harris’ website, artharris.com with a note assuring his readers and viewers that the picture is not a fake.

On June 30, Holmseth issued a stern warning by email to various networks and people covering the HaLeigh Cummings disappearance. “There are some people who are now coming very close to flat-out exploiting HaLeigh Cummings to advance their lives and businesses financially - as so many have already done. It is appearing that some have no real Mission Statement and are playing piggy-in-the-middle games with a little girls’ life,” he said.

He continued.

“I am going to be paying very close attention to anyone who deliberately attempts to keep the HaLeigh Bug money-making scam under wraps. There is a myriad of subjects and areas of interest any of us can invest our time into, so if anyone feels they cannot address matters regarding HaLeigh truthfully, I politely ask you now to remove her from your agenda.”

In Holmseth's email to professional colleagues he said, "One more time, just for HaLeigh: If HaLeigh is found, dead or alive, the money STOPS pouring in to the HaLeigh Bug Foundation (designed to aid searches/never one conducted.) If the money is traced, the child just MIGHT be found because you will find the people BENEFTING from her being “gone.”

Harris ignored the request.

Harris prints his own name across photos of HaLeigh Cummings, which typically calls out ownership and copyright, indicating some kind of business relationship with the owner of the photographs. Harris has also published other photos of HaLeigh Cummings that bear his name as if he owns her.

The only known place the ‘Sheffield and two children’ photo ever appeared was on haleighbug.com, a site that solicits money for the Haleigh Bug foundation. The foundation has raked in un-told thousands of dollars that the administrators and officers will not account for.