JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the case for the missing 21-month-old toddler Lonzie Barton continued Wednesday, Lonna Barton, Lonzie's mother appeared before a judge at the Duval County Jail after being arrested for child neglect and giving false information to police in a missing child case.

Those charges were formally read to Lonna Barton at Wednesday's first appearance, where bond was also officially set at $50,006 -- $25,003 for each charge. 

DOCUMENT: Lonna Barton arrest report 
UNCUT VIDEO: Lonna Barton first appearance

Lonna Barton stood quietly before the judge as the charges were read and then was escorted out of the room. She's now in the same jail as her boyfriend, Ruben Ebron, as the two await trial.

Ebron is facing one charge of lying to police and two charges of child neglect.  He pleaded not guilty to those charges and is being held on $100,000 bond. His first day of pretrial is scheduled for Sept. 2.

Lonna Barton's next court appearance will be Sept. 9. Because Ebron is already being represented by a public defender, Lonna Barton can't be represented by the public defender's office, so she will appointed an attorney from the Regional Conflict Counsel Office, which steps in in cases like hers.

"The easiest way to explain what (the RCC) is, is they're a second public defender's office," Gene Nichols, a defense attorney not related to the case, said. 

Nichols said the RCC was designed to not only represent a client, but also to protect against conflict of interest when you have two defendants involved in the same case.

With the public defender's office already working with Ebron, the RCC must step in for Lonna Barton.

"It's a distinct possibility that both of them could point fingers at each other. And knowing that, they sort of already have a little bit, so recognizing that, that's why they appointed the Regional Conflict so quickly," Nichols said.

This isn't the first local high profile case where the RCC was brought in. Such was the case with the second murder trial against Michael Dunn, convicted of shooting and killing Jordan Davis.

In the Dunn case, the public defender's office withdrew after it was determined that they were already representing one of the witnesses at the Gate gas station in another case.

Chris Barton at Lonna Barton's first appearance 

Lonna Barton's estranged husband, Chris Barton, was at the jail for the first appearance and left immediately after the hearing.

According to Tina Gleitz (pictured below), a volunteer who started talking to Chris and Lonna Barton when she helped with the toddler's search and became close to Chris Barton during that time, a lot of things have been said as the case has progressed and she wants to set the record straight. 

"You've got to imagine how this poor man feels. His son is missing. He obviously thought he could trust the mother of his children, and then all of this happens," Gleitz said.

Gleitz is the administrator of a Facebook page dedicated to finding Lonzie and since Lonzie's disappearance, she and Chris began talking every day.

Gleitz said through social media, people have shown their support while others have not been so kind, even questioning Chris Barton's presence at the Duval County jail for Lonna's first appearance.

"He did not show up there to support her by any means. He did not show up to bail her out as a lot of people are saying on the social media. He is there to get answers for his son," Geitz said.

VIDEO: Chris Barton's friend on charges

That sentiment is evident in text messages between Chris Barton and Gleitz and a similar exchange of texts messages between News4Jax and Chris Barton himself.

Speaking to News4Jax Chris Barton said he was in court Wednesday to support his son Lonzie,, and to get information about Lonna Barton's charges. 

Geitz also wanted to clear the air around a Go Fund Me account the she set up for Chris Barton. She said Chris Barton didn't start it himself but it's there to help him nonetheless.

"A lot of people are bashing him saying that, speaking of the Go Fund Me account. I actually created that Go Fund Me for him from the beginning. That was not anything Chris asked me to do. That was something I asked him if I could do for him," Geitz said.

Geitz said she didn't have any comment on Lonna Barton's arrest but she did say she thinks Ebron is right where he belongs.

"I really hope to God that JSO continues what they're doing to keep that man behind bars at this point," Geitz said. 

Lonna Barton arrested for child neglect, lying to police

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Chief Tom Hackney said he believes that Lonna Barton has been lying to police since the beginning of the investigation into her son's disappearance.

Hackney said the child neglect charge against Lonna Barton dates from July 23 -- the day before Lonzie disappeared -- when she found a bruise on the back of Lonzie's head that he suffered while Ebron was watching him. Ebron is the man who was last seen with the child.

Hackney said that after finding the bruise, Lonna Barton also found yellow fluid coming from Lonzie's ears, and she said the toddler kept vomiting.

"Despite being in an argument over a bruise and how it occurred without a satisfactory answer, she left Lonzie (pictured) and the 5-year-old in the care and custody and control of someone who may have done something to her child while she went to work at Wacko's," Hackney said.

Police said Lonna Barton also knew that Ebron sold and kept drugs in the home where Lonzie lived.

"Lonna (Barton) knew Ebron kept, used and sold narcotics. She knew he was a drug dealer," Hackney said. 

UNCUT: Hackney announces Lonna Barton's arrest | Lonna Barton walked to jail

Hackney said the truth began to come out during the investigation, and investigators discovered that Lonna Barton had been lying to police all along.

"Lonna is obviously a liar. When confronted with Ruben Ebron's name, she initially said she didn't know him. She gave repeated false statements to investigators and then later she admitted that she had made these false statements," Hackney said. "This is the most critical time of what we were beginning to do. We said all along that the house of cards that Ruben was building with that lie was not helping the investigation. It was leading us away from where we should have been looking. Lonna (Barton) was not assisting investigators either when she said she didn't know the man who she put in control and care of her children."

Hackney said Lonna Barton (pictured) went to the police department on Tuesday to speak with investigators.

"She actually came down here on her own tonight (Tuesday), not aware that she was going to be arrested or that there was an arrest warrant out for her," Hackney said. "She's cooperative to this point, and what she believes and what she doesn't believe, I'm not going to try to put myself into her head. Frankly, I wouldn't want to be there."

Court observers told News4Jax that Lonna Barton's arrest could be a power play by police to get Barton and Ebron talking about what happened to Lonzie.

"There were probably several conversations with her to hopefully lead to where the boy was," said attorney Gene Nichols, who's not affiliated with the case. "I think the Sheriff's Office did everything it could to not have to prosecute her if she was going to be a benefit. It seems to be from these reports that she is no longer being a benefit to their investigation but is hampering their investigation."

Police continued to say that Lonna Barton and Ebron had multiple phone calls while he was in jail and detectives are looking into those conversations.

Missing child investigation

It's been more than three weeks since Lonzie Barton disappeared from his family's apartment on the Southside, and police still haven't found a trace of the boy.

Ebron, who was watching the child, first claimed that the toddler was abducted when his car was stolen with Lonzie inside. Hackney countered the story Ebron (pictured below) told by releasing home surveillance video showing Ebron ditching his car in the same spot where it was found less than a mile from the apartment complex. Detectives are now holding him on child neglect charges but believe that he murdered Lonzie.

"We are still full steam ahead in making a murder case for Ruben Ebron," Hackney said. 

The reward for information leading to Lonzie's recovery is now $13,200, thanks to private donors.

That's in addition to up to $4,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case. A tipster with the right information could get a grand total of $17,200.

People in the community are continuing to step up to try to find the little boy.

First Coast Crime Stoppers Executive Director Wyllie Hodges said his organization's anonymous hotline has received 298 tips about Lonzie's disappearance so far. He said that's much higher than most cases. 

"You name it, and we have heard it," Hodges said. "We have heard from people who have had a dream to people whose tips sound really legit. Some tips that we've gotten are just off the wall. But the majority of the tips are worthy of us at least looking."

Those tips are passed along to police, but so far investigators haven't had the big break they need. But they're still trying.

ONLINE: Complete coverage of Lonzie investigation | Photo timeline of Lonzie case

First Coast Crime Stoppers has been Northeast Florida's tip line for more than a decade, and now it's one of Jacksonville detectives' biggest chances of solving the case.

Crime Stoppers has been involved in a lot of high-profile cases, but Lonzie's case is unique because it's the first time the organization has offered a reward for the recovery of a victim's body. Usually a reward is offered only for information leading to an arrest.

The group hopes the reward helps police solve the case.

"That is a lot of money, and I plead to those that are out there, if you have information on this case, if you are sitting there waiting to say, 'Well, if I wait it is going to go higher -- it may, it may not -- but you may not be the only one that knows," Hodges said. "I'm only going to pay one person."

Hodges, who is Jacksonville's former undersheriff, has a history of success. He said the local Crime Stoppers hotline gets about 4,000 tips every year, and the tips help solve about 1,000 cases annually, leading to 106 murder arrests over the past decade.

"Sometimes, evil prevails over right, but I just feel like if anybody out there knows it, we are going to get this tip," Hodges said. "And it is going to come very soon, I hope."

News4Jax spoke Wednesday night with the leader of a community search party that's working on its own as police have scaled back.

"He looks like my little nephew," Bryan Tucker said. "It upset me, so we'll do as much as we can."

The group has been passing out fliers during the day and searching areas around Jacksonville in the evenings. They walked along the side of the road, checking every nook and cranny along the way.

"JSO has been doing everything they can," Tucker said. "They've got a lot of other cases."

Their search also led them to the woods of the Northside, near Oceanway.

As the days push forward, Tucker and his group plan to keep searching as long as possible. In their eyes, the most important thing is keeping Lonzie's face and story out there.

Tucker told News4Jax that he'd like to expand his search group. Anyone interested in joining can look him up on Facebook.

The number for Crime Stoppers is 1-866-845-TIPS. You don't have to give your name to get paid. To submit a tip, check the status of a tip or donate to Crime Stoppers, go to www.fccrimestoppers.com.