Hamilton County: Former Sheriff Long sentenced to 14 years

Former Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long will spend the next 14 years in prison after being sentenced in federal court late this afternoon on extortion, money laundering, drug and gun charges.

The judgment comes months after his February arrest for extorting money from local convenience store owners and conspiring to get into the drug business with a man who actually was an undercover informant working for the FBI.

In the hearing today that included testimony by two FBI agents, Long’s attorney, Jerry Summers, said the undercover informant steered Long into criminal activity and that agents made the case bigger by involving larger amounts of cocaine and money.

But Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice told Mr. Summers that undercover informants are a necessary tool in law enforcement and that “what you are attacking is the way law enforcement is carried out in this country.”

“I am going to decline your invitation to make new law here today,” the judge said.

With some pre-sentencing court filings remaining sealed, the judge at one point had a defense witness testify behind closed doors in his chambers, according to the Associated Press.

Saying he expects the sentence to be appealed, the judge in the open hearing allowed Summers to make numerous objections to a pre-sentence report that recommends Long be sent to prison at least 14 years.

During the hearing, Long sat handcuffed and shackled, wearing a red jail jumpsuit.

Mr. Long has been living as an inmate segregated from the rest of the population in the Bradley County Jail. His sentence means he soon will be scheduled to move to a federal prison facility to begin serving his time, although details of when and where have not been released.

The FBI originally charged Mr. Long with 28 crimes resulting from a year-long undercover sting. During a number of recorded conversations and videotaped exchanges with government informant Eugene Overstreet, agents caught Mr. Long taking more than $23,000 in illegal payoffs from convenience store shakedowns and alleged drug trafficking proceeds. He also was recorded giving a gun to Mr. Overstreet, who is a convicted felon, and taking part in a cocaine transaction.

Mr. Long eventually would plead guilty in May to 27 of the 28 crimes, which included various extortion and money laundering charges. The lone drug charge — which was the last crime Mr. Long committed before his arrest — was the only crime that carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.

Mr. Summers had lobbied extensively to get that mandatory minimum sentence lifted by accusing the government of luring Mr. Long into a serious crime he never would have committed without the help of the “manipulative” Mr. Overstreet. At the time of the fake drug deal in early February that was set up by the FBI, Mr. Overstreet was wearing a fake cast on his arm and told Mr. Long that he needed help loading some cocaine into his vehicle.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.