Aisenbergs don't want to wait to see files
The couple ask a judge to reconsider his decision concerning the inquiry into their daughter Sabrina's disappearance.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published June 23, 2005
TAMPA - Sabrina Aisenberg's parents say the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is bluffing.
A day after a Hillsborough circuit judge ruled that the Sheriff's Office is still investigating Sabrina's 1997 disappearance and that it can keep blocking her parents' access to investigation files, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg filed a legal motion asking the judge to reconsider his decision.
"Stop using the ongoing criminal investigation as a pretext for not giving us the truth," said Barry Cohen, the Aisenbergs' attorney, in a news conference Wednesday that attracted every local television station but added almost no new information.
Sabrina Aisenberg disappeared on Nov. 27, 1997, from her family's Valrico home when she was 5 months old. Her parents, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, were indicted in 1999, accused of lying about her disappearance. But federal prosecutors dropped the charges in 2001 after a magistrate judge said audiotapes secretly recorded in the couple's home were largely unintelligible.
The Aisenbergs want access to the Sheriff's Office investigation reports to strengthen their civil lawsuit, which alleges that Hillsborough sheriff's investigators conspired to violate the Aisenbergs' civil rights in the criminal case.
Steve Aisenberg flew to Tampa from Maryland for a news conference to announce the couple's court efforts and to accuse the Sheriff's Office of not being aggressive enough in its investigation of Sabrina's disappearance.
He said he and his wife believe that Sabrina is still alive and are awaiting her return. He said their two older children, William and Monica, have had trouble in school because other kids have asked over the years about their missing sister.
"If there is an active investigation, we relish that," said Aisenberg, who wiggled uncomfortably in front of clicking cameras when he wasn't answering questions. "We want our daughter brought home."
Circuit Judge William Levens ruled that although he agrees that the Sheriff's Office is still investigating the case, he would review the issue again in six months.
An attorney for the Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that he wondered why the Aisenbergs were so upset about waiting six more months for another judicial review on the issue, when it took them 21/2 years to file their civil complaint from the time the charges were dropped. And it took another 13 months for the Aisenbergs to formally request the Sheriff's Office investigative files in the case.
"I fail to see the significance of a six-month delay in discovery when (the Aisenbergs) waited so long to file the lawsuit and request discovery," said Sheriff's Office attorney Chris Sabella.
Jennifer Liberto can be reached at 813 226-3404 or liberto@sptimes.com