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Aisenberg Informant's Attorney Asks Crist For Probe Of Case

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 30, 2008

  Dennis Byron

TAMPA - Attorney John Trevena mailed Gov. Charlie Crist a letter today asking him to appoint a special prosecutor to review how the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office have handled the investigation of the disappearance of 5-month-old Sabrina Paige Aisenberg.

Trevena, who is representing Dennis Byron, sent the letter via FedEx this afternoon. Byron was an informant for the sheriff's office. Byron was used by investigators to get leads on Sabrina's disappearance, which happened 11 years ago when the Aisenbergs lived in Valrico.

Along with Byron, investigators used wiretapping, fake identities and even payoffs to try to trap inmate Scott D. Overbeck into providing information, Overbeck told attorney Barry Cohen.

In Trevena's letter, he says Byron recently reached out to him about "illegal and improper acts" he saw while he was an informant.

"These acts included a criminal investigation spearheaded by Tony Peluso, a civilian Sheriff's employee with no apparent jurisdiction or legal authority; secret meetings with a circuit court judge culminating in an illegal sentence concocted by Mr. Peluso and Assistant State Attorney Karen Stanley; secret recordings made of conversations between Mr. Byron and Scott Overbeck (an inmate at the Hillsborough County Jail); payments and gratuities to Mr. Byron; the illegal placement of Mr. Byron at PAR (a residential drug treatment center in Largo) with instructions to Byron from detectives to lie about his prior criminal history; and the general targeting of innocent parties with the objective to implicate them in Sabrina Aisenberg's disappearance," Trevena wrote.

The sheriff's office declined to comment on the investigation and on Trevena's request for a special prosecutor, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

Cohen, who represents the Aisenbergs, took statements from Overbeck and Byron last week about Sabrina's disappearance. Cohen has said he, the Aisenbergs and his investigator, Johnny Tranquillo, have been targeted by law enforcement.

Trevena included those statements in his letter.

"Only by the appointment of a special prosecutor can the integrity of the Aisenberg investigation be protected (if that is even possible now) and the inappropriate actions of Mr. Peluso and others as detailed herein be fairly and impartially investigated," Trevena wrote.

Trevena said the governor needs to be involved because other agencies, such as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, would be too close to the sheriff's office to impartially investigate or have the authority to initiate a prosecution. He said law enforcement needs oversight and accountability and that there wasn't any in this case.

In a recorded conversation Friday, Overbeck told Cohen he was not involved in the child's disappearance.

In a conversation recorded July 23, Byron said Overbeck has told him that Marlene Aisenberg killed the baby on a boat.

"She took that baby and shoved the baby inside the nose of the boat, the bow of that boat," Byron told Cohen. "The baby stayed in the bow of that boat until Scott Overbeck took that baby out, chopped that baby up, put that baby in crab traps and got rid of that baby in Thunder Bay. And that's basically what Scott Overbeck in the long term, over a period of a year and a half, told me."

Cohen said Tuesday night that the request Trevena made to the governor's office "sounds like a pretty smart thing to do."

"If they find somebody with impeccable integrity and will go where the facts take them, I think it's a good idea," Cohen said. "There has to be consequences to this conduct."

Byron was moved Monday from the Gainesville Correctional Institution to the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City.

"Inmate Byron was transferred to Columbia Correctional for his protection and the security of the prison," Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. "He is in administrative confinement at Columbia while a protection review takes place. A protection review usually takes a couple of weeks. Once his case has been reviewed, he could go back to Gainesville Correctional or he could be placed in protective management."

Byron was sentenced to five years in prison for violating the terms of his house arrest in February, records show.

Trevena said the transfer was "punitive and retaliatory" and against his client's wishes.

Plessinger said today that the transfer was for Byron's protection.

"He's been getting some media attention, and it's becoming known that he's giving out information," she said.

When you break the law and come to prison, your individual choices on where to be sent are limited, she said.

Reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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