FEDERAL PROSECUTOR REFUSES TO GO TO COURT WITH ANDREW CHAMBERS AS A WITNESS

Sixteen years of lies by star undercover informer Andrew Chambers have
caught up with the U.S. government. Federal prosecutors in Miami have freed
four suspected drug dealers rather than put Chambers on the witness stand.

Defense attorneys say dozens - and perhaps many more - of other drug
prosecutions across the country also may be in jeopardy.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out," said Michael Caruso, an
assistant federal public defender in Miami. "I can't see any prosecutor
bringing Andrew Chambers into court at this time, because of the issues
regarding his credibility."

Officials at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration acknowledged Monday
that additional prosecutions could be dismissed, as more prosecutors become
aware of Chambers' history of lying.

The agency also said it is reassessing its use of professional informers
such as Chambers. Critics say informers-for-hire have a powerful incentive
to lie: money.

The agency has paid Chambers, formerly of University City, more than $2.2
million.

The agency stopped using Chambers last month, after a Post-Dispatch
investigation found he repeatedly lied, testifying under oath that he never
had been arrested or convicted of a crime. In the agency's parlance,
Chambers was "deactivated."

Nevertheless, the agency says that disclosures about Chambers have made him
a hero within the agency - a man who has put his life on the line many
times.

The agency credits Chambers in the arrests of 445 suspected drug dealers in
295 cases over 16 years, and the recovery of more than a ton of cocaine.
"His services can be considered invaluable," said Terry Parham, the agency's
top spokesman in Washington.

In September, the drug agency says, it took steps to restrict the use of
Chambers. Agency agents were barred from using Chambers without revealing
his full criminal history to prosecutors. And the prosecutors and the
agents' supervisor had to consent to any use of Chambers.

Those safeguards apparently failed in Miami.

Caruso said he read about the agency's restrictions last month in the
Post-Dispatch. The defense attorney filed discovery motions in court seeking
the names of government supervisors who had authorized Chambers' use in
October - a month after the restrictions were to have gone into effect.

Caruso never got the names.

Instead, the U.S. attorney's office in Miami notified him Friday afternoon
it was dismissing drug charges against the defendants. On Monday, the four
men were freed. Two had been awaiting trial on cocaine charges and two on
heroin charges.

Prosecutors had no comment, and their one-paragraph order of dismissal gave
no explanation.

Now the DEA says it is taking still more steps to prevent abuses by its
snitches.

The agency says Chambers has worked on so many cases that a breakdown of
communications occurred between the various field offices employing him.
Chambers has worked undercover cases for 12 of the agency's 22 domestic
field offices.

The agency says it is issuing new regulations requiring agents to share
among themselves quarterly reports naming all informers. The reports are
supposed to say whether the prosecutor considered the informer's testimony
truthful.

In addition, any informer accused of false testimony must be deactivated or
agents must get approval from headquarters to use them. The new policy
requires the drug agency to give an informer's full criminal history to
prosecutors, Parham says.

In and out of trouble

It was unclear whether the new policy will require agents for the agency to
notify prosecutors when they get an informer out of legal trouble.

In April 1998, police in Houston arrested Chambers on a charge of soliciting
for prostitution. The police report says he offered an undercover female
officer $10 for oral sex.

A drug agent posted $500 bond to get Chambers out of jail; a local
prosecutor later dismissed the charge, apparently at the request of the
agency.

Last June, 14 months after the arrest in Houston, Chambers gave a
deposition, answering questions from a defense attorney in Tampa, Fla.

He admitted to a 1995 arrest in Denver for impersonating a police officer.

Is that the only time you've ever been in trouble, he was asked.

"Yes," he answered.

Chambers was asked whether any cases brought on his testimony had ever been
dismissed.

"No," he answered.

In 1995, a U.S. district court judge in Denver dismissed charges against 10
defendants after prosecutors refused to produce detailed information about
Chambers. The judge blasted the prosecution for paying Chambers based upon a
contingent fee - the amount of drugs and convictions he could get.

Parham, the agency's spokesman, says the agency's internal investigation
determined that Chambers lied "at least" three times.

A review of Chambers' testimony by the Post-Dispatch found that he had lied
about his past dozens of times.

In December, the DEA said its highest-paid informer had received $1.6
million. At the time, Chambers had been paid more than $1.6 million. The
agency said its second-highest-paid informer had been paid $500,000

Has earned more than $2 million

The agency now acknowledges it has paid Chambers more than $2.2 million. But
the agency says it has found another informer who has been paid even more.
It won't identify who.

While the agency says Chambers no longer is on its payroll, the agency says
he may continue to testify in cases in which he's already been paid.

Said Parham: "You can still testify if you've been deactivated."