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Aisenbergs ask judge to reconsider

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published June 22, 2005

	[Times photo: Ken Helle]
	Steve Aisenberg, left, and Tampa attorney Barry Cohen leave the conference room in Cohen's office after a press conference Wednesday. Today's Times: Judge curbs access to Aisenberg files

The parents of the missing girl Sabrina Aisenberg say the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is bluffing.

A day after Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Levens said he agreed that the sheriff's office has an "active investigation" into baby Sabrina's disappearance eight years ago, Marlene and Steven Aisenberg filed a motion asking the the judge to reconsider.

Five-month-old Sabrina disappeared from her family's Valrico home on Nov. 27, 1997. Steve and Marlene Aisenberg were indicted in 1999 and accused of lying about the child's disappearance, but prosecutors dropped the charges in February 2001 after a federal magistrate judge said audiotapes secretly recorded in the couple's home were largely unintelligible.

The Aisenbergs' attorney wants to use the information from the criminal investigation to strengthen their lawsuit, which alleges that sheriff's investigators conspired to violate the Aisenbergs' civil rights.

Steven Aisenberg flew down from Maryland to host a press conference with his attorney Barry Cohen on Wednesday to announce their effort to ask the court to reconsider.

"It's been a long hard seven and a half years," Aisenberg said. "All I can ask to the public, is if you know anything, you contact our attorneys so we can bring our daughter home sooner."

See tomorrow's Times or sptimes.com for the full report.

[Last modified June 22, 2005, 16:40:57]