DEA INFORMANT HAD FALSELY TESTIFIED

A highly paid confidential informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency who
compromised dozens of cases throughout the country by lying under oath
about his criminal record can now add a 1995 St. Tammany Parish case to the
list.

A Mississippi man who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a St. Tammany
Parish drug conviction is set for immediate release this week after proving
the informant, a key witness against him, not only lied during his trial,
but also admitted lying on the witness stand in several other cases in
several other cities since the mid-1980s.

Ricky K. Bane, 26, of Gulfport, was granted a new trial Monday based on
evidence of the informant's perjury and, in a deal with prosecutors,
pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of possession with intent to distribute
cocaine for a sentence of time served. Bane's attorney had appealed his
original sentence when the information about Chambers came to light.

In 1995, Bane was convicted with three other Mississippi residents of
possession of more than 400 grams of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute,
stemming from a drug deal at La Quinta Inn near Slidell. The informant,
Andrew Chambers, helped set up the deal to sell a kilogram of cocaine in
coordination with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and DEA.

During the trial, Chambers falsely testified that he had never been
arrested. Yet Chambers, who was paid at least $2 million by the DEA during
his 16-year relationship with the agency, had an arrest record at the time
that included charges of assault, forgery and larceny.

"That man was lying about his past record," Assistant District Attorney
Joseph Tosterud said. "We could have retried the (Bane) case, but we have a
witness who basically admitted to perjury. It would have been embarrassing
to put a lying witness on the stand."

Defense attorney Kevin Boshea stressed that he does not accuse the
prosecutors at the time of Bane's trial of intentionally withholding
information about Chamber's criminal record or his previous perjury. But he
says the DEA was aware of Chamber's sketchy history, and they should have
provided the information to prosecutors.

"I think they (prosecutors) saw what happened here was wrong," Boshea said.
"Their witness had acted improperly and had not been candid with the state."

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Chambers, a high school dropout who hooked up
as a confidential informant for the DEA in St. Louis, traveled the country
helping the federal agency arrest more than 400 people in 300 separate
cases, court records show.

Called "one in a million" by DEA officials, Chambers was notorious for his
ability to ingratiate himself with drug dealers.

Typically, when he landed in a new city, he set himself up with a Corvette,
a Mercedes-Benz or some other luxury car that would help win him confidence
as a major drug dealer. He also was compensated generously, often earning a
percentage of the money seized during a sting. Court records indicate he
collected at least $2 million before the agency stopped using him in
February 2000.

"There were complications with cases he was involved in," said Will Glaspy,
a spokesman for the DEA in Washington, D.C. "So it's my understanding that
they have deactivated him."

In the St. Tammany Parish case, Chambers, now in his late 40s, met Bane in
Gulfport through Bane's sister. On a subsequent meeting, the conversation
turned to drugs, and Chambers suggested Bane might want to buy some
cocaine. Bane declined, but Chambers offered him $1,000 to set up a deal
with someone else, to which Bane agreed.

Bane and his three co-defendants were arrested March 14, 1994, after
meeting Chambers and an undercover sheriff's detective at the La Quinta Inn
to exchange $10,000 for a kilogram of cocaine.

In his request for a new trial, Bane's attorney argued that jurors should
have heard about Chambers' criminal record and history of lying on the
stand to better judge his credibility as a witness.

Bane's co-defendants, Patrick Bellino, 34; Tracy Stubbs, 30; and Steven
Dunn, 31, all of Gulfport, have not challenged their convictions based on
Chamber's perjury.

The status of other convictions aided by Chambers was unknown Tuesday, but
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said he could not recall any federal cases
overturned or charges dismissed because of Chamber's involvement.

The New Orleans DEA office would not discuss how Chambers, a St. Louis
native, was recruited to work in this region.