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Informant's Attorney Asks For Review Of Aisenberg Case

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 31, 2008

TAMPA - Attorney John Trevena wants Gov. Charlie Crist to take action about what he considers a mishandled investigation into the disappearance of 5-month-old Sabrina Aisenberg.

He mailed 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.

Trevena represents Dennis Byron, 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 fake payoffs to try to trap inmate Scott D. Overbeck into providing information, Overbeck told attorney Barry Cohen.

Overbeck told Cohen on Friday that he paid a Valrico woman $1,500 for a little white boat a week before Sabrina disappeared and "had a hunch" after seeing media coverage of the case that the woman was Marlene Aisenberg.

Cohen heard a different story July 23 when he spoke to Byron, who said Overbeck told him Marlene Aisenberg killed Sabrina. Byron also told him Overbeck "apparently" was hired by Cohen's investigator, Johnny Tranquillo, to get the boat from the Aisenbergs' home. Overbeck said he had chopped up the baby and put her remains in crab pots along the Courtney Campbell Parkway, according to Byron's statement to Cohen.

There is no record of any watercraft being registered in the Aisenbergs' name. And Cohen said Tranquillo was in St. Joseph's Hospital having heart surgery about the time of the disappearance.

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

Included in those misdeeds, he wrote, were the targeting of innocent people, secret recordings between Byron and Overbeck, and payments and gratuities law enforcement gave Byron.

Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for Crist, said the office gets many requests like Trevena's and must review his letter before taking any action.

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

Said state attorney's spokeswoman Pam Bondi: "Our office's limited involvement in this case has been completely proper."

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

Trevena included those statements in his letter.

He said that only the appointment of a special prosecutor might protect the integrity of the investigation into Sabrina's disappearance.

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 there wasn't any in this case.

Cohen said Tuesday night that Trevena's request for a special prosecutor's involvement "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."

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

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