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Judge Corrects (Down) Aisenberg Informant's Sentence

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 13, 2008

  Dennis Byron

TAMPA - An informant who said he got information about the disappearance of Sabrina Aisenberg had his prison sentence reduced by about half today.

Five-month-old Sabrina disappeared from the Valrico home of her parents in 1997. She has never been found.

Today, Judge Wayne Timmerman ordered that jail informant Dennis Byron's prison sentence be returned to the original sentence: 36 months. The sentence previously was reduced, but after Byron was charged with violating house arrest, he was sentenced to nearly 70 months behind bars.

The state said it did not oppose the court going back to the original 3-year sentence against Byron. Its research showed he was entitled to that sentence, state attorney's spokeswoman Pam Bondi said last week.

In October, Byron pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

Byron filed a motion to reduce his sentence and was denied.

While behind bars in December, Byron served as an informant for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. He did it to get a reduced prison sentence.

He wore a wire to get information from cellmate Scott D. Overbeck about Sabrina's disappearance, he said.

Sheriff's deputies transferred Byron to Overbeck's cell in Orient Road Jail.

The sheriff's office has not revealed the recorded conversations.

Byron told the Aisenbergs' attorney, Barry Cohen, that Overbeck acknowledged chopping Sabrina up, saying Marlene Aisenberg killed the baby in a boat. Overbeck told Cohen he wasn't involved in Sabrina's disappearance and didn't know the Aisenbergs.

Byron filed another motion in January to reduce his sentence, but that was not filed within the 60-day time limit, said his attorney, John Trevena.

The court granted Byron's motion anyway, sentencing him to 24 months of house arrest and a stay in a residential drug treatment program.

About a month later, on Feb. 25, Byron appeared before Judge Daniel Perry. Byron had been charged with violating house arrest. Byron acknowledged doing so, and Perry sentenced him to nearly 70 months in prison.

"The current sentence is illegal -- it is null and void because the court lacked jurisdiction to impose it," Trevena wrote.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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