BREAKING — Two more court filings submitted today by lawyers for former Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long seek to discredit federal prosecutors’ chief informant in the case against Mr. Long.
Mr. Long pleaded guilty to a total of 19 crimes after a year-long undercover sting that revealed he had been taking protection money from local convenience store owners, laundering money, allowing a convicted felon to use one of his firearms and making arrangements to smuggle drug money out of Mexico in a ruse set up by the FBI.
Today, Mr. Long’s attorney Jerry Summers submitted two documents for court review. One is an affidavit from Joe Guidi, who worked in law enforcement for 10 years. Mr. Guidi writes that he introduced Mr. Long and Eugene Overstreet, the FBI’s confidential informant in the case.
Mr. Guidi said the relationship was supposed to help Mr. Long, then a candidate for sheriff, make inroads with the black community and Indian convenience store owners. He wrote that there was no discussion of any illegal activities during a fund-raising dinner for Mr. Long that was put on by the convenience store owners.
A second document shows a judgment against Mr. Overstreet for failure to pay more than $30,000 in back-due child support in New Jersey was registered with the chancery court in Hamilton County for enforcement purposes.
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So they are STILL trying to get that convicted felon of a former sheriff off with a figurative wrist-slap.
Law enforcement at all levels use whatever informers are available. Nothing new there...since the LEOs work crime cases, their sources are those closest to the criminals -- many of them are petty criminals themselves. So what? This does NOT make their information invalid...suspect, perhaps, but that is what vetting a source is all about -- establishing credibility.
The same holds true of foreign intelligence work.
Felon Long deserves exactly what he got; he was an elected Law Enforcement Officer who CHOSE to go bad. He wanted to play with the dirty boys for money or power and the dirt rubbed off -- at his own doing. His bad.
Kudos to the guys who investigated him and made the bust. Thanks to all for that.
I second Rolando's assertion and add: Lock Long up and throw away the keys!!!!