FBI informant in sheriff probe facing arrest

The undercover informant who helped the FBI take down former Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long is destitute, facing arrest for failing to pay restitution in a bad-checks case and is "terrified" of going to jail, his attorney has said.

"(Clarence Eugene Overstreet) is the person who put the sheriff in a federal prison," defense attorney Stan Lanzo said Friday. "So what do you think is going to happen if he gets put in the county jail?"

On Thursday and for the third time, Mr. Overstreet failed to show up in Hamilton County Criminal Court so a judge could assess his court-ordered restitution payments. The 2003 state case involved the passing of two worthless checks totaling $11,000.

Criminal Court Judge Don Poole has issued an arrest warrant and a $5,000 bond against Mr. Overstreet as a result.

The bad-checks case to which Mr. Overstreet pleaded guilty in 2006 had nothing to do with the investigation against Mr. Long more than two years ago, which resulted in a prison sentence of 14 years for the former sheriff. But court documents indicate the restitution payments Mr. Overstreet promised to make would become a huge burden after he agreed to become an FBI informant and lost his livelihood over the course of the government sting operation.

"(Mr. Overstreet) became a key witness in the (Billy Long case), and restitution payments were interrupted," a 2008 probation violation report states.

The payments never have gotten back on track, Mr. Lanzo said, noting that Mr. Overstreet was paid "very little money" for the undercover work he did to take down Mr. Long. Mr. Overstreet's role in the investigation contributed to the failure of his business, Family Mortuary, in Chattanooga, Mr. Lanzo said.

In court documents, Mr. Lanzo stated that the public scrutiny Mr. Overstreet endured made people wary of using his funeral parlor.

"A grieving family would not want to avail themselves of Overstreet's services when he and his business were a constant feature on the news," Mr. Lanzo stated.

Much of the sting against Mr. Long took place in Mr. Overstreet's funeral parlor, where federal agents caught the law enforcement officer on tape making cocaine deals and conspiring to shake down convenience store owners across town.

Mr. Long would plead guilty in late 2008 to several federal crimes involving drugs and money laundering. He is serving his sentence in an Arizona federal prison.

Mr. Lanzo said Mr. Overstreet now lives out of state and did not have enough money to make it to court Thursday. He hopes to get Mr. Overstreet in front of Judge Poole soon, he said, to make a significant restitution payment and hopefully resolve the case.

Mr. Overstreet still owes most of the total amount of the two bad checks he wrote, records show.