EXPENSIVE INFORMANT CHALLENGES BAD RAP

Andrew Chambers has moved across the country for 15 years, sticking to
suspected drug dealers like a shadow while quietly gathering the evidence to
put them away.

But now, the king of setting up the target is in the bull's eye himself.
Under attack by outraged critics of the informant system, the Drug
Enforcement Administration's second highest-paid snitch has been taken off
the payroll. He's been called a liar in media reports throughout the nation
and is fearful that the barrage of coverage has put his life at risk.

It has been a mighty fall - one that his lawyer argues does Chambers and the
public a disservice.

``The typical informant is somebody who has done something wrong. That's not
Andrew,'' Chambers' attorney David Ucherek said.

Chambers hired Ucherek in February, in part to explore if he can sue
newspapers that have published reports about him.

In an interview with The Tampa Tribune this week, the attorney gave the most
revealing look yet at the controversial informant's work. His only condition
was that the newspaper not reveal where Chambers is living.

``Andrew didn't have to do these things,'' Ucherek said of his client's work
as informant. ``He wasn't trying to reduce his sentence and get out of
trouble. He probably would have done it for free.''

But others don't see it that way.

Chambers, 42, of St. Louis, hasn't worked for free. In fact, he has been
paid at least $2.2 million from the DEA. He may have received nearly that
amount from other law enforcement agencies.

Chambers has been arrested at least seven times on charges including
soliciting a prostitute, impersonating a law enforcement officer, forging a
loan document and larceny, court records show. In November 1989, he was
accused of shoving an ex-girlfriend against a wall and ripping out her phone
as she tried to call police.

Most of the charges were dropped, but Chambers does have at least one
conviction. He pleaded guilty in Denver in 1995 to a misdemeanor
solicitation charge and paid a $450 fine.

What's most troubling to the informant's critics, however, is that Chambers
has sworn under oath in past drug trials that he has no criminal history.
Two federal appeals courts found he committed perjury.

But Ucherek said even the courts that have been critical of Chambers have
upheld the convictions against his targets.

``He's put bad people away. If Andrew Chambers was the worst person in the
world, he is not forcing these people to buy drugs on video and audiotape.''
Evidence he has collected ``speaks for itself,'' Ucherek said.

Chambers doesn't testify often, largely because many of the 400-plus people
he has informed against have pleaded guilty.

When Chambers has taken the stand, his lawyer said, he has been asked
imprecise or manipulative questions.

``I don't think he is a very good witness because he's never been prepared
properly,'' Ucherek said. ``A defense attorney's job, our job, unfortunately
in some situations is to convolute the truth.''

In recent weeks, concerns about Chambers' credibility have given prosecutors
pause. On March 10, the U.S. attorney's office in Miami dropped two federal
drug cases Chambers had helped build. Days later, Hillsborough County
prosecutors dismissed four cases in which Chambers played a role, freeing
eight defendants rather than risking calling Chambers as a witness.

Ucherek decried the dismissals, saying Chambers wasn't dealing with one-time
dealers ``who were on the line'' of guilt or innocence.

``Unfortunately, we have U.S. attorneys and state attorneys who are
political figures,'' he said. ``If prosecutors are backing out because of
Andrew Chambers, I think that is despicable.''

Chambers declined to comment for this story, but his lawyer said the
informant discovered his vocation while attending community college. A
police friend, knowing Chambers was having financial problems, mentioned he
might collect reward money if he informed for the DEA.

Because Chambers never graduated from college, he was told he would be
unable to meet the DEA's requirements for becoming an agent. But he had
found his career.

Chambers' motivation is a hatred of drugs, his lawyer said.

``I think Andrew, as a black male, has seen what drugs have done to the
black people in this country. It's an outrage.''

Although Chambers was basically ``a DEA agent without a badge or a gun,''
Ucherek said, the informant received almost no formal training.

``I think Andrew trained more DEA agents than they trained him. He is a
natural at winning people's confidences.''

The first news accounts of Chambers hit his hometown newsstands in
mid-January with a lengthy expose by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Since
then, Chambers has made headlines in cities around the country.

Amid the reports, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno asked the DEA to suspend
Chambers, and the agency has ``deactivated'' him. But Ucherek said the media
coverage has been filled with ``half-truths and mistruths.''

He called many of the reports ``irresponsible and dangerous.''

No longer working as an informant, Chambers is volunteering at a boys' home
and has ``very little'' money left, his lawyer said.

At least some of the money Chambers received from the DEA was spent on
expenses associated with his cases - a rented Mercedes-Benz, for example, as
well as fees for hotel rooms.

Over 15 years, $2.2 million comes to about $150,000 a year. Ucherek
estimated his client's expenses totaled $2,500 a week.

Chambers still hopes to return to the streets as an informant but does not
know if he can regain the anonymity essential to that task.

``Here is a guy who has devoted 15 years of his life to the DEA as an
informant. Now his picture has been published in St. Louis, Houston, Los
Angeles and Tampa. It has pretty much punched him in the gut.''