TAMPA - A defense attorney argues that federal agents duped drug suspects
and prosecutors with use of a troubled informant.

The attorney for a man charged in a crack cocaine sting accused federal
agents Wednesday of trampling his client's rights and blindsiding
prosecutors by protecting a top-dollar drug informant with a history of
lying under oath.

"This case is clearly one of law enforcement misconduct of an unparalleled
quality," Ralph Fernandez said in a motion Filed in Hillsborough Circuit
Court. "Both friend and foe of law enforcement were victimized."

Fernandez - one of several attorneys representing defendants set up in
stings orchestrated by the informant, Andrew Chambers - wants the Drug
Enforcement Administration to release volumes of files detailing Chambers'
troubled career.

Chambers has worked for the DEA and other agencies for 15 years, getting
paid at least $2.2 million and making cases that led to more than 300
convictions. But Chambers has a liability.

Two federal appeals courts have found that he perjured himself in previous
drug trials, lying about his arrest record and education. Portrayed as a
concerned and clean citizen, Chambers has, in fact, been arrested at least
seven times. He was convicted once, in Denver, after authorities accused him
of soliciting a prostitute and impersonating an officer.

Despite his controversial past, Chambers was a key figure in an undercover
operation in Tampa that resulted in the arrest last May of Fernandez's
client Avery Royster of Hillsborough County. Neither Royster, 24, nor
Fernandez knew anything about Chambers until they read newspaper accounts of
Chambers' past. Then Fernandez began to investigate.

Fernandez said in his motion that he has uncovered a disturbing pattern: The
DEA has frequently moved cases in which Chambers has played a role from
federal courts to state courts, Fernandez said, to avoid having to make
disclosures about Chambers.

State prosecutors are constrained by strict law's requiring them to protect
the identity of confidential informants, Fernandez noted. Consequently, the
DEA would have had no need to disclose Chambers' identity or past, he said.

"State prosecutors do not enjoy the same level of inclusion, or for that
matter, comfort, in dealing with sensitive issues involving federal agencies
and their informants," Fernandez wrote.

Last fall, as the DEA came under growing fire for using Chambers, the agency
notified the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office by letter of "an issue
regarding previous sworn testimony" by Chambers in the cases of Royster and
several other Hillsborough defendants. The letter urged prosecutors to
contact DEA lawyers for details. The prosecutor in the Royster case tried
but received no reply.

The state attorney's office is reviewing all pending cases in which Chambers
had a role.

Eric Myers, who oversees the office's drug prosecutions, said Wednesday he
had not seen Fernandez's motion, but he did not rule out the possibility
that his office will drop some charges.

That has already happened in other jurisdictions. On Friday, federal
prosecutors quietly dismissed two pending drug cases involving Chambers in
Miami. A spokeswoman would not say whether the dismissals actually were
caused by concerns about Chambers, but they followed attempts by defense
attorneys to obtain the informant's records.

In recent weeks, as the controversy over his credibility has grown, Chambers
has been "deactivated" as an informant, the DEA says.

It also is changing its procedures so regional offices can keep tabs more
easily on a confidential informant's record in other jurisdictions.

But the agency still defends its use of Chambers, saying he put his life on
the line countless times.

"His services were invaluable," DEA spokesman Terry Parham said.