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Sheriff Says Aisenberg Attorney Never Target Of Probe

News Channel 8 file photo by CHRIS TAYLOR (2007)

Marlene Aisenberg looks around a bedroom in her Bethesda, Md., home. The room is kept for their missing daughter, Sabrina. It is furninshed with gifts from the Aisenbergs' travels.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN and RAY REYES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 28, 2008

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County sheriff is disputing claims by attorney Barry Cohen that he has been the target of an investigation into the 1997 disappearance of 5-month-old Sabrina Paige Aisenberg.

On Sunday, Sheriff David Gee said Cohen, "is not, nor ever has been" the subject of an investigation into Sabrina's disappearance, in a text message to The Tampa Tribune. Cohen represented Sabrina's parents, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, on federal charges of lying to investigators.

Last week, a prisoner named Dennis Byron gave a recorded statement that Cohen and his investigator, Johnny Tranquillo, conspired to cover up Sabrina's disappearance, according Byron's attorney, John Trevena.

Trevena said sheriff's office attorney Tony Peluso told him he had a "rock-solid case." On Sunday, Peluso said he had one 10-minute conversation with Trevena.

"I never said the case was rock solid," said Peluso, a former federal prosecutor who argued against awarding the Aisenbergs hefty legal fees after the charges against them were dismissed.

Recently, sheriff's investigators have been following new leads in the case, even returning to the Aisenbergs' old Valrico neighborhood to question residents about the baby's disappearance.

One of those new leads was Byron. He was approached by two detectives while at a Lake Butler processing center and asked about Sabrina's disappearance, according to court transcripts.

Sheriff's deputies transferred Byron to the Orient Road Jail in December 2007. He wore a wire and received information from his cellmate, Scott D. Overbeck, according to the transcripts. Cohen said the two were friends and had partied together before.

Overbeck said he bought a boat from a woman in Valrico a week before Sabrina disappeared and "had a hunch" after seeing media coverage of the case that the woman was Marlene Aisenberg, according to sworn statements Cohen took last week from the two men.

Sheriff Rejects Cohen's Claim

Byron told Cohen that Overbeck "apparently" was hired by Tranquillo to get the boat from the Aisenbergs' home and that there had been a dead baby inside it.

Tranquillo "apparently" contacted Overbeck, who told Byron he had chopped up the baby and put her remains in crab pots along the Courtney Campbell Parkway, according to Byron's statement.

The sheriff's office says Cohen has never been a target, subject or person of interest in the case.

The sheriff's office and Peluso issued the following statement Sunday afternoon:

"HCSO detectives and employees treat all of these leads in a professional and scientific manner, gathering facts and allowing the facts to direct our actions, conclusions and decisions. Lead information comes to the HCSO from a variety of sources. Obviously, some of our informants are more reliable and trustworthy than others. Nonetheless, regardless of the source, we are honor bound to lawfully investigate every viable lead, no matter whose feathers it might ultimately ruffle.

"There is no political, personal or other improper agenda associated with the investigation into the disappearance of Sabrina Paige Aisenberg."

Sabrina disappeared from her crib 11 years ago, when the family lived in Valrico. Her parents, who now live in Maryland, were charged in federal court with lying to investigators about their daughter's disappearance.

The charges were dropped in 2003 after key evidence - recordings of bugged conversations - was thrown out because investigators lied to keep the listening devices in place. A judge also ruled that the tapes were inaudible. Eventually, the U.S. government paid $1.5 million in legal fees.

Cohen Reacts To Byron

Cohen said Byron used the word "apparently" multiple times while giving his sworn statement.

"'Apparently' is not enough to convict somebody," Cohen said. "There's no evidence he put the baby in a crab trap. The truth is, Marlene Aisenberg never owned a boat."

Cohen said he was good friends with Tranquillo, who knew Overbeck's father. Those links may have led investigators to him, Cohen said. According to the statement he got from Byron, Cohen said he is "the prime target of the investigation."

"There's a difference between putting information in people's heads and getting information," Cohen said. "Sheriff's office investigators are making assumptions."

When Byron and Overbeck spoke with investigators, they were "puffing themselves up" to "make themselves important, to give themselves some status that they were involved in something big," Cohen said.

Cohen plans to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. today at his downtown Tampa law office to talk more about the case.

Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629 or haltman@tampatrib.com. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at rreyes@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7920.

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