William ‘COBRA’ Staubs announces intent to file BAR complaint against Florida Attorney Kim Picazio
PI searching for Haleigh Cummings claims he is being illegally silenced
by Timothy Charles Holmseth
William ‘COBRA’ Staubs has announced he will be filing a formal complaint to the Florida BAR against Kim Picazio, the attorney for Crystal Sheffield - biological mother of Haleigh Cummings. Staubs has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday with an attorney who will assist him in the filings.
The announcement comes on the heels of a felony arrest warrant that was issued for the Florida bondsman last week. Staubs turned himself in to authorities in Putnam County on Friday, and has stated he believes Picazio played an active role in his arrest, as well as tampering with his ability to bond out.
Paula Andrews, Staubs’ girlfriend, and a legal client of Picazio, said she had received telephone calls from Picazio weeks before the arrest wherein she made ominous predictions that Staubs could be jailed and/or lose his license.
A behind the scenes rift between Staubs and Picazio had been brewing for some time due to a host of issues between the one time friends.
“[The complaint] will probably be about 10 pages long,” Staubs said. “I can prove everything.”
Staubs said he was advised there was a warrant for his arrest and he made arrangements in advance with A-1 Bail Bonds in Palatka, FL to post his bond. “They set me up,” he said. “I went into [the] jail, and they snatched my bond, and said ‘let him rot in [expletive] jail.”
Andrews said Donna Jaquith, A-1 Bail Bonds, told her they weren’t going to pay the bond, despite all the previous arrangements. “I said, ‘I’ll put it on my credit card,’” Andrews explained, recalling the event. The response of the bond company representative was, according to Andrews; “I don’t want his money and his ass can rot in jail.”
Andrews said Picazio had made an ominous prediction in advance that Staubs was going to be on a “no bond hold,” despite the fact that bond had already been set and arranged.
Staubs had a booth reserved at the Blue Crab Festival in Palatka where he planned to promote his search for Haleigh Cummings over the Memorial Day weekend. Mike Picazio, Kim Picazio’s husband, said he and his wife had contacted A-1 bail bonds about Staubs’ situation so they could rent his booth for the Haleigh Bug center, in the event it became vacant.
Staubs said the formal complaint will include the allegation that Kim Picazio has knowledge of her client abusing prescription pills, while at the same time; pursuing physical custody of Ronald Cummings Jr. Staub’s said his knowledge of this and his refusal to lie for Kim Picazio’s client resulted in a sudden arrest, for an incident that was over two months old.
In a media interview published May 7 on the Bloggers News Network, when asked if Crystal Sheffield was who she appeared to be, Staubs replied, “No. I don’t think any of them have clean hands.” He said he now is being retaliated against and punished for his refusal to say only good things about Sheffield.
“I felt he acted absolutely improperly and in violation of statute,” Picazio said, saying Staubs had a contract with Johnny Sheffield, Crystal Sheffield’s father, and he should not be saying any disparaging remarks against her client.
“I investigate everyone,” Staubs said, adding that anything short of that would be of no help to the missing child.
“They wanted to teach me a lesson. They wanted to teach me that [Kim Picazio] has power,” Staubs said.
Mike Picazio said his wife had been in contact with the State Attorney’s office and the Putnam County Sherriff’s Department regarding Staubs and the controversial bond revocation of Daniel Snodgrass, but that she was not involved in the recent charges.
The false imprisonment charges against Staubs had been previously submitted to the State Attorney’s office and returned because there was not enough evidence. Mike Picazio said the State Attorney’s office told his wife they might bring charges against Staubs in the future if they had a little more evidence. Apparently someone satisfied the need of additional information, although who provided that evidence and what it was, is not clear.
As tensions continued to grow between Kim Picazio and Staubs following Staubs’ media comment about her client, ominous threats began to be made regarding his future, he said.
Donald Knop, Kim Picazo’s brother-in-law and former employee, said Kim Picazio had told him she knew a person in “Tallahassee” who handled this type of licensing, and could have Staubs’ license taken away if she wanted to.
Kim Picazio confirmed she believed she could have had Staubs’ license taken away but said she wasn’t involved in the recent legal actions taken against Staubs.
Johnny Sheffield, Crystal Sheffield’s father, said Kim Picazio and her husband began calling his daughter and wife and wouldn’t leave them alone; demanding he terminate his contract with Staubs to investigate the whereabouts of Haleigh Cummings – which would force Staubs out of the picture because he would have no client. Johnny Sheffield said he got so tired of the calls he terminated the contract, and then his mother-in-law, Ruby Kanger, simply signed a new one.
Staubs said Kim Picazio’s efforts to have his contract terminated were a pre-cursor to his arrest.
Kim Picazio said she had a conversation with Staubs about the matter. “You’re putting me in the position of having to go up against my friend (Staubs himself) or withdraw from the case,” she said, recounting the conversation. “I said, ‘Bill, don’t put me in a position like that.’”
Staubs said Crystal Sheffield has “no chance” of achieving physical custody of the child, even if the child is removed from the home. He said he repeatedly asked Kim Picazio to get Crystal Sheffield some help for her drug abuse so she would be fit to be awarded custody, should such a time occur. He said Kim Picazio became angry and said he should quit “[expletive] with her case” and that it was going to make her client “look bad.” Staubs said she told him no one will know, saying to him, “By the time anybody finds out about this, buddy, she will have prescriptions for everything that’s in her system.”
“[The claim that Sheffield abuses pills] is ridiculous. We offered random drug tests to DCF,” Picazio said, adding that DFC can get access to all of Sheffield’s medical records and that her client has nothing to hide.
The basis of the complaint will also include allegations by Staubs that Kim Picazio engaged in an on-going sexual relationship with Jeremiah Regan, the administrator of the Haleigh Bug center in Satsuma, FL. Staubs said that at the same time that affair was occurring, Regan was also in a relationship with Crystal Sheffield., thus creating a conflict of interest between attorney and client (Kim Picazio and Jeremiah Regan) and possibly a sexual harassment issue between Kim Picazio and Regan, 26.
Kim Picazio said Regan was not her employee.
Staubs said his knowledge of this affair and refusal to play along has resulted in retaliation from Kim Picazio.
Staubs said Kim Picazio was “obsessed” with Regan, and on one occasion, she telephoned Staubs in the late night hours and demanded he travel to the Haleigh Bug center in Satsuma and see what Regan and Crystal Sheffield were doing – Staubs said she was jealous.
Picazio disagrees with Staubs’ version of events.
“Of course, I don’t want my client in a bad light, that she’s sitting somewhere away from her fiancé having sex with some guy, and so, I surely tried to get to the bottom of that,” Picazio said.
Staubs said on another occasion Kim Picazio came into his motel room as he slept and sat at the end of his bed crying. He said she was showing him the bottom of her feet, which were bleeding because she had chased Regan down the road after he had rejected her. She said she “loved” Regan, he recounts. Mike Picazio said he did receive a call from Staubs about the incident. He said he and his wife had a good laugh about it because she didn’t have any cuts on her feet.
Kim Picazio said there is no conflict of interest between her and her client. “Crystal and I love each other like sisters,” she said.
“Jeremiah described [the acts] to me,” Staubs said. Andrews said Regan also admitted the relationship to her, adding it is simply common knowledge.
Staubs said Regan covertly taped himself discussing the affair in sordid detail with Kim Picazio. When she was confronted with the audio, he said, she said it was clips from various television shows such as Nancy Grace, Jane Valez Mitchell, and Geraldo all spliced together. Later, Staubs says, she said she had simply gone “into character” as a “counselor” to help Regan with his problems, and was not discussing true events.
Knop said because of financial constraints the group would often have to share motel beds to save money, and Kim Picazio and Regan shared the same bed. Knop said when he was present “everyone was fully clothed.”
Mike Picazio said he received a telephone call from Regan wherein the twenty-six year-old admitted he had an affair with his wife. Mike Picazio said that days later Regan changed his story and said Staubs had forced him to call [Mike Picazio] on the telephone and make a bogus claim of adultery by putting a “gun in his mouth.” Mike Picazio also said the reason Regan was sleeping in the same motel room as his wife was because Staubs “locked” Regan in with her – forcing the situation.
According to Mike Picazio, Regan later changed his story again, and said Staubs didn’t put a gun in his mouth, but said he would “wash his mouth out with a pistol” if he didn’t call Mike Picazio and falsely say he had been having sexual relations with his wife.
No 911 calls were ever made regarding these alleged violent crimes by Staubs.
Mike Picazio said he believes Staubs’ motive was to prompt a divorce between himself and his wife so Staubs could get valuable stock in his growing biofuels company. However, later in the interview, when asked if he believed that Staubs put a gun in Regan’s mouth to force a statement out of him, Mike Picazio replied, “No.”
Staubs laughed at the assertion that he put a gun in Regan’s mouth. “He didn’t look to me like he had a gun in his mouth while he walked around the Golden Corral (in Palatka) parking lot on the phone, telling Mike what he did,” Staubs said.
Knop said Kim Picazio discussed the future with Regan and told him she could get him a job in her husband’s biofuels business. Knop said he heard Kim Picazio say to Regan, “You know Jeremiah; you have to make a decision here. You have to decide whether you want to be an oil executive, or run a charity. Running a charity is rewarding and all, but there is no money in it.”
Kim Picazio said the referenced conversation about the future took place in a car and said it was innocent conversation and nothing more. She said she is disappointed in her brother-in-law and that she and her husband have done a lot for him – stating he is troubled and in need of money.
Staubs said he was asked by Rev. Richard Grund very early on in the case if he could help locate little Haleigh Cummings, using his skills as a private investigator. “I could have never imagined this kind of stuff was going to go on and I would be attacked like this,” Staubs said. He said he cannot stop searching for “America’s Little Girl” because he has images of someone harming the little girl in horrible ways, which he cannot get out of his mind.
“Oh well, they put my picture on the cover of the paper alongside Haleigh’s, so it’s keeping her in the news,” he said, tearfully.
Staubs said Kim Picazio has maliciously interfered with his ability to make a living, because he cannot work as bondsman until he is cleared, and he has no choice but to file a formal complaint.
Kim Picazio said she has very good reputation among her colleagues, is a good lawyer, and would never risk her BAR license over things like this. Mike Picazio said he believes his wife.
“I hope someday [Staubs] is playing with my kids again,” Kim Picazio said, adding someday they will all have a good laugh about all this.
Attempts to reach Jeremiah Regan by phone were unsuccessful.
Attempts to reach Crystal Sheffield were unsuccessful.
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Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:00 am