PHOENIX -- The concerns with federal drug informant Andrew Chambers Jr. have existed for years. They have been the subject of national TV news programs, newspapers around the country chronicled his activities, and a report from the Drug Enforcement Administration documented his lies and betrayals.
Those concerns did not discourage federal agents in Phoenix from using Chambers as an informant in a heroin-smuggling case in which DEA investigators labeled him as reliable.
But federal prosecutors on Tuesday asked a federal judge to dismiss the charges against Luis Hernandez-Flores and Saul Sandoval, accused of smuggling in a case in which Chambers was the key informant. The motion was filed Tuesday just hours beforeThe Arizona Republic published an indepth story on the DEA's use of Chambers.
The dismissal does not detail what information was recently discovered that led to the move, and federal authorities declined to discuss it Wednesday.
The DEA indefinitely deactivated Chambers as an informant in 2000, following extensive coverage and an internal investigation that raised questions about his work for the agency. The DEA quietly reinstated Chambers as an informant in 2008.
The Republic's story Wednesday caught the attention of watchdog groups, who were aware of Chambers' history of giving false testimonyin federal drug cases and his alleged non-payment of taxes on the millions of dollars the federal government paid him through the years. But the move to dismiss the case has prompted at least one member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the DEA, to raise the issue of a federal investigation into the decision to use Chambers in the first place.
Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday called the DEA's use of Chambers "concerning" and suggested that the agency's inspector general look into the matter.
"Using criminals to catch criminals is a dangerous game, but one that is at times required," Grassley, R-Iowa, told The Republic in an e-mailed statement. "The federal government must take the utmost care and consideration when using informants. Too often the agencies operate in silos and fail to talk to their counterparts at the federal, state and local levels. Reactivating an informant with such a troubled history is concerning, and something the Inspector General should look into."
A representative for Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who also sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, declined to comment until Flake gets more information on the case.
The defense attorney for Hernandez-Flores last month filed a motion to dismiss the case against his client, arguing Chambers' testimony as an informant could not be trusted. The motion detailed information about Chambers over the years.
Some of those issues came up last week in federal court, said Brian Russo, a defense attorney representing Sandoval.
Russo said the federal prosecutor assigned to the case, Karen McDonald, expressed her concerns at a hearing after she conducted a briefing with Chambers in preparation for the trial set for later this summer.
Chambers' alleged failure to pay taxes was among the issues McDonald raised in court, Russo said. "She told the judge on the record that she had debriefed him, and new information came up, specifically these unpaid taxes, that she felt obligated to disclose," Russo said.
The only thing surprising about the government's move to dismiss the case was the timing, Russo said.
"Karen had discussed her desire to have a meeting with her bosses and push toward this, so it's not totally unexpected," Russo said.
A spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration declined to comment because U.S. District Judge Stephen McNamee has not yet signed the government's motion to dismiss the case.
There is no indication that the agency would elaborate on the decision to reinstate Chambers as a paid informant if the order is signed.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix declined to comment on the decision to drop the smuggling case, but said federal prosecutors still plan to respond to the defense's motion to dismiss despite filing the very same motion on Tuesday.
"We still intend to file that response," said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.
If the judge grants the motion to dismiss, it would mark the second time that a case involving Hernandez-Flores fell apart. He was among 43 people named in a 2010 indictment in Maricopa County Superior Court where Hernandez-Flores was charged with dozens of drug-related counts. A judge ruled that a police officer working with the DEA provided misleading statements in order to get a wiretap, and the related evidence was thrown out, forcing prosecutors to dismiss the case.
Hernandez-Flores walked out of jail in June 2011. One month later, Chambers paid a visit to the suspect in southwest Phoenix, launching the second investigation.
Russo said that given the amount of money the government has spent to bring a case that relied on a questionable informant, someone should answer for the decision to employ Chambers.
"Somebody at the DEA obviously should be held accountable," he said. "Taxpayer dollars are spent on these prosecutions, and now they have to just throw it out."
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